The Hitchhiker's Guide to Technology

Woman in the mirror?

2006-01-25T14:09:00.000-04:00

Ok, this has nothing to do with technology but I just read this on Reuters and found this so weird. Michael Jackson went shopping in Bahrain dressed as a woman. A Reuters photographer saw him in the mall dressed in an ‘Abaya’, which is a full length robe. He was in all black, with sunglasses and gloves and a veil covering his face and his men’s shoes were peeping out. For company, he had 3 western looking children (???) and an unidentified woman.
"Please, no!" Jackson shouted to photographers before making a rapid exit with the children and woman via the back door of the mall and into a white car.
I thought he is broke, where is he getting money to shop from? Oh wait, that’s not the thing I should be focusing on

What can we do to protect ourselves?

2006-01-24T13:16:00.000-04:00

The U.S government is asking Google to give up all its data collected on its search engine but Google does not want to follow Yahoo and msn. What can we do to protect our privacy even before search engines get to know everything about us? One of the solutions is to use a service called ‘Tor’. Tor allows users to surf the internet, chat and send instant messages anonymously. It works by transferring traffic three times through random servers, or nodes, on its way from sender to recipient to make it difficult for anyone to trace the data back to its source.
The downside of Tor is that it takes longer to surf the internet as the data has to travel through these random servers but if you are paranoid about your privacy, then click here to check out Tor.

Schools begin to offer Gym classes online

2006-01-16T17:02:00.000-04:00

One of the unlikely online offerings of public schools is the gym. The course allows students to meet requirements by exercising how they want, when they want.

They are required to work out hard for 30 minutes four times a week and report to their teachers by e-mail. Parents must certify that the students did the workouts.

Physical education is one of 27 online courses now offered by the Minneapolis Public Schools, which had none four years ago.

MP3 goes surround sound

2006-01-05T09:59:00.000-04:00

The inventors of the file format MP3 have taken the format to a new level. MP3s can now have surround sound. Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (Fraunhofer IIS) and France's Thomson SA have added two new elements to MP3 Surround demonstration software: MP3 SX (MP3 Stereo eXtended), which enhances MP3 stereo files for multichannel playback; and Ensonido, which provides portable MP3 Surround sound using stereo headphones

You can get additional information about MP3 surround by clicking here

Merry Xmas

2005-12-23T10:27:00.000-04:00

Here’s wishing you and your family a very merry Christmas and a fabulous New year. Lets hope this new year has no war and more hope. And in 2006, if you can, try and help the people who have not been as fortunate as us.

Santa starts phone service

2005-12-23T10:11:00.000-04:00

In the early days, talking to Santa meant a trip to the mall but now Santa talks to children on the phone. Parents are now turning increasingly to commercial services that provide phone calls from a Santa who knows not only what is on the child's wish list but also the names of siblings, friends and teachers, favorite vacation spots and what was under the tree last year.

Owners of the services, mostly mom-and-pop Internet start-ups with names like Santa Calls Kids and Santa Speaking, report an exponential increase in business each season, with prices ranging from under $10 to a $39.95 package for up to three children that include a digital recording of the call.

When will the cat learn?

2005-12-23T09:44:00.000-04:00

Napster is getting sued again. Although the brand is now associated with legal downloads, it has still managed to break copyright laws.

MCS Music America, which owns the copyrights for 45,000 songs, claims that Napster is selling the songs controlled by MCS without obtaining licenses.

Napster sent a form to MCS seeking an agreement but neither party signed the agreement. MCS is asking Napster to pay $150,000 which shouldn’t be much for the cat to cough up.

Back to the Future

2005-12-19T14:31:00.000-04:00

Anyone who has seen the ‘Back to the Future’ movies, might feel that getting a note from the past is a very cool thing. At least I think so. Futureme.org allows you to do just that.

The site is one of a handful that let people send e-mails to themselves and others years in the future. They are technology's answer to time capsules, trading on people's sense of curiosity, accountability and nostalgia. Futureme.org allows people to send messages 30 years from now but most choose the message to be sent within 3 years.

According to the founders, a large number of the messages sent do one of two basic things: tell the future person what the past person was doing at the time and ask the future person if he or she met the aspirations of the past person.

Visit Futureme.Org and send yourself an email.

All I want is your money - Ted

2005-12-18T08:56:00.000-04:00

When Susan Drummond returned from a month long trip to Israel, she was greeted by a Rogers phone bill for $12,237.60. The Rogers Wireless bill included a five-page list of calls charged to her phone, almost all of them to foreign countries that included Pakistan, Libya, Syria, India and Russia.

Susan figured out that someone had stolen her phone and when she called Rogers Wireless, they told her there was nothing it could do, and she would have to pay the entire amount. ( As I will explain later, this is the tactic they use often)

Since making that call to Rogers last August, Ms. Drummond and her partner, Harry Gefen, have been researching the cell phone company, yielding some unexpected discoveries, among them that the phones of senior Rogers executives, including Mr. Rogers himself, were repeatedly "cloned" by terrorist groups that used them to make thousands of overseas calls.

Now comes the good part. After what happened to Ted, Rogers installed an automated security system that alerts the company if anyone’s phone is being misused or rather if the number is being misused to make unauthorized long distance calls. After Susan found this out, she decided to sue the company stating that although Rogers knew her number was being misused, they let the meters run.

I have personally had a lot of problems with Rogers as far as their billing and their customer service goes but they are riding on their monopoly in this area and if any customer approaches them a problem, they get the same answer Susan Drummond got, “There’s nothing we can do, you will have to Suffer” or is it “There’s nothing WE WANT to do, all we want is your money”. The Rogers customer service could easily be rated as the worst anyone can experience and I just hope Aliant comes out with their TV service soon.

In July, when we called Rogers to set up a Cable and Internet connection, the company offered a promotion package and ever since, they have been charging us extra every month and when we approached them, they claim they never offered the promotion to us and asked us if we knew who we spoke to. Now, you are a customer calling up Rogers to get a connection, would you ask who you are speaking to and what their employment number was and write it down in case Rogers wants to rob you? No, but you might want to start taking down a lot of notes if you are a customer of Rogers. We have been calling and arguing every month since we got that connection and since no one else offers TV here and I can’t go in for the Bell Express package due to installation prohibitions in apartments, we are stuck with this company.

If you are a customer of Rogers, do yourself a favor and get out of it if you can. I mean, there must be a reason why the company is called Rogers because that’s what they do to you (if you know what I mean).

You are not alone Susan.

Mona Lisa Smile

2005-12-16T06:36:00.000-04:00

Now it's official: Mona Lisa was 83 per cent happy, nine pc disgusted, six pc fearful and two pc angry. That's the conclusion of a University of Amsterdam computer that applied "emotion-recognition software" to Leonardo da Vinci's work, the British weekly New Scientist reports in next Saturday's issue.

The algorithm, developed in conjunction with the University of Illinois, tries to assess the human mood by examining key features such as the curvature of the lips and crinkles around the eyes, then makes a score with respect to six basic emotions.

I dont think she looks 83% happy in that painting. Do you?

Scientists create Mighty Mouse

2005-11-23T18:39:00.000-04:00

Researchers at Rutgers University have discovered that deactivating a specific gene transforms meek mice into daredevils. Mice that lack an active gene for the protein ‘stathmin’ are not only more courageous, but are also slower to learn fear responses to pain-associated stimuli.

In some of the experiments, the stathmin-lacking mice wandered out into the centre of an open box, in defiance of the normal mouse instinct to hide along the box’s walls to avoid potential predators.

In both mice and humans, the amygdala area of the brain serves as the control centre of basic fear impulses. Stathmin is found almost exclusively in this and related brain areas.

This research could one day help people suffering from fear – in the form of phobias or anxiety disorders.

The Rubik’s Cube World Championship

2005-11-10T10:59:00.000-04:00

After twisting and turning a Rubik’s Cube for 2 days, Jean Pons was declared the World Champion at the World Rubik’s Cube Championship in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Pons, of France, defeated 140 other players in the traditional 3x3x3 cube competition with an average cube solving time of 15.1 seconds!!!!

"Since my introduction to the cube in 2003, I have been practicing to be the best cube solver in the world," said Pons. "This championship title means so much to me. I am fortunate to have participated in this event and to have competed against some of the most skilled cubers in the world."

His countryman, Edouard Chambon, came in second with an average cube solving time of 16 seconds. Some new world records set include the 4x4 solve, solving using only feet, and blindfolded solving.

This is one World Championship I have to see.

Click here if you want to know more about the World Championship.

Korea’s own Geun-ius

2005-11-08T08:51:00.000-04:00

While other children his age are in elementary school, Song Yoo-geun is a freshman at the physics department of Inha University in Incheon, west of Seoul. Yoo-geun will be eight sometime this month and he is Korea’s youngest university student.

He set a record by completing elementary, junior-high and high school in just nine months (it takes regular Koreans 12 years to complete these stages of schooling before they can enroll into a University). Apparently, the university tested Yoo-geun last month and he surprised the scholars by explaining the Schroedinger equation, which is of central importance to the theory of quantum mechanics.

Yoo-geun dreams of making flying cars based on the superstring theory. Next time someone says ‘This can be understood by a child of eight’, give them the link to this article.

Even fashion gods work in mysterious ways

2005-11-06T09:19:00.000-04:00

The thing about emails is that they never just go away. Even if you delete it from your inbox, you can be sure that there are many copies stored on different servers that helped carry the email to you. The Fashion God, Michael Brown, learned this the hard way. Louisiana Congressman Charlie Louisiana Congressman, Charlie Melancon, posted unflattering e-mails written by former FEMA Director Michael Brown on his website.

On the day the hurricane hit, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs, Cindy Taylor, wrote to Brown that he looked "fabulous." Brown replied, "I got it at Nordstroms...Are you proud of me?" An hour later, Brown added: "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god," according to the congressman.

Click here to view these emails and Click here to read the CNN article that gives us the highlights of this collection of emails.

On September 12 Brown resigned, 10 days after President Bush told him, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Will the Apple fall to the ground?

2005-10-25T00:21:00.000-03:00

Apple is starting to feel the heat from the customers who bought the new iPod Nano. Apple is faced with a class-action lawsuit which accuses Apple of knowingly selling defective iPods. Apple has been charged with shipping out its iPod Nanos even though it knew that the product was prone to being scratched up easily. Moreover, the plaintiffs argue that the scratches make the product unusable as the screen becomes unreadable. The company advices customers to spend some extra dollars and buy cover cases for the Nano to prevent scratches.

This is not the first time that Apple is being sued by its customers. In 2003 the company was hit by plaintiffs who filed a class-action lawsuit regarding its rechargeable batteries that do not charge as well as they claim to. The company settled this year by offering $50 vouchers that can be used to buy Apple products, and it also extended the iPod's warranty to two years from one.

If you have bought an iPod Nano and want a piece of the action, contact Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro

Nothing micro about these mistakes

2005-10-20T12:25:00.000-03:00

Tom Edwards, who is Microsoft's top man in its geopolitical strategy team, revealed how Microsoft managed to offend one of the biggest countries in the world with a software slip-up.

When coloring in 800,000 pixels on a map of India, Microsoft colored eight of them a different shade of green to represent the disputed Kashmiri territory. The difference in greens meant Kashmir was shown as non-Indian, and the product was promptly banned in India. Microsoft was left to recall all 200,000 copies of the offending Windows 95 operating system software to try and heal the diplomatic wounds.

Another social blunder from Microsoft saw chanting of the Koran used as a soundtrack for a computer game and led to great offence to the Saudi Arabia government.

Microsoft has also managed to upset women and entire countries. A Spanish-language version of Windows XP, destined for Latin American markets, asked users to select their gender between "not specified," "male" or "bitch," because of an unfortunate error in translation.

Edwards said that staff members are now sent on geography courses to try to avoid such mishaps. "Some of our employees, however bright they may be, have only a hazy idea about the rest of the world," he said.

I know what you are thinking, it is a little late for Microsoft to send these staff members back to high school but it might help the company avoid future embarrassing situations as these.

You can copy but you can’t hide

2005-10-19T09:53:00.000-03:00

A secret code embedded in many color laser jet printers allows the US government and any other organization capable of reading the cipher to identify when the copies were made and on which particular machine, according to research conducted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
Among the copiers found to include the secret yellow dots are ones made by Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, HP, Konica/Minolta, Kyocera, Lexmark, Ricoh, Tektronix/Toshiba and Xerox. The dots are yellow, less than one millimeter in diameter, and are typically repeated over each page of a document. The pattern can be seen using a blue light, a magnifying glass, or a microscope.
Do you think they hide something in our coffee too?

From E.T to E.A

2005-10-14T20:35:00.000-03:00

Steven Spielberg agreed to develop three original games with EA (Electronic Arts). Work has already started on the first of the three projects, which EA says will be a next generation game which appeals to a broad audience. Spielberg is said to be an avid gamer. In 2000, EA bought DreamWorks Interactive which was the gaming division for the Spielberg’s studio DreamWorks. It would be really interesting to see what he churns out in the videogame space and rumor has it that he may even make movies based on these games.

Scientists learn how to apply the brake on lasers

2005-10-06T08:36:00.000-03:00

Scientists in Australia have found a way to slow down a speeding laser pulse and capture it in a crystal. The laser pulse was slowed down from 300,000 kilometers per second to just several hundred meters per second, allowing them to capture the pulse for about a second. This also allowed the scientists to write on the laser and send the laser back on its way. Suddenly, the age of Quantum Computing does not look so far away.
To learn more about Quantum Computing, Click here

Sony wins an Emmy!!

2005-10-03T14:04:00.000-03:00

Hey everybody, I am back. Just completed my MBA last Friday, took the weekend off and here I am, back in blogosphere. And since I am one of millions who love this console, i thought this post will make the rest of the fans happy. The Sony PlayStation has won an Emmy!!! It won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Technology and Advanced New Media award for its early work on 3D polygon-based gaming. Sony has dominated the console gaming for the past decade and critics say it is a clear winner ahead of the ‘War of the new Consoles’ that is coming up soon. Read more about the award here

Missing in Action

2005-09-05T19:40:00.000-03:00

Please excuse the absence of any new posts. I have been busy looking for a job as well as finishing my MBA. I will be done in about 3 weeks now. As everyone knows, looking for a job is a full-time job in itself and there are many assignments and projects due in 3 weeks as well. I will be back soon. If anyone knows of a company looking for people, do let me know, I would really appreciate it. I could use all the help I can get now.
You can download my resume in Word or PDF format.

Bad dog, no battery

2005-08-27T08:32:00.000-03:00

Nintendo has released a puppy simulator for the North American market. This game lets players nurture and train a virtual dog. Nintendogs has been a big hit in Japan but then we know the kind of stuff the Japanese like. The Japanese have always liked taking care of virtual animals, children, friends and plants too, I guess. Back to Nintendogs, the game comes out in three editions and offers 18 breeds for the players to care for, train and play with. Using artificial intelligence, a built-in microphone, and a touch screen, Nintendo’s puppy responds to a player’s voice and reacts to praise and discipline. The game also has a “bark mode” that detects an available wireless network for contact with other players. Nintendo hopes to put a leash (no pun intended) on the Sony PSP sales with this game and frankly, I do not think this game will affect the sales of the PSP.
Nintendogs is available for the Nintendo DS.

Mobile phones take priority over smoking

2005-08-22T18:16:00.000-03:00

Health officials in Japan announced a drop in the rate of smoking among teenagers in Japan. Kenji Hayashi, the head of research at the Health Ministry, said that "There is a high chance that phone bills are weighing on the money they spend on cigarettes. The monthly allowance students get ranges between 6000 yen [$A72] and 7000 yen, but over 80 per cent of them own a cell phone and some studies show the phone bills they pay amount to 4000 to 6000 yen. We need to investigate the correlation between the two." Thanks to mobile phone companies and their hidden costs, I have not only stopped smoking but started eating lesser too. They care about us and just want us to be healthy.

Bush against Triple X

2005-08-16T09:28:00.000-03:00

The Bush administration has asked for a hold on the release of the new domain .xxx. Michael Gallagher, assistant secretary at the Commerce Department, said "The Department of Commerce has received nearly 6,000 letters and emails from individuals expressing concern about the impact of pornography on families and children." The domain was to get its final approval today. The .xxx domain was definitely a shot in the arm for the porn industry. Before you know it, we will have a porn search engine that searches only the .xxx domain for content, images and videos. Porn will have its own exclusive space on the internet and it would definitely make it easier for children to find porn and easier for child porn addicts as well.
Click here to read more.

Happy Independence day, India!!

2005-08-15T06:53:00.000-03:00

India Celebrates its 58th Independence day today. We have achieved a lot in only 58 years and we still have a long way to go. To learn more about India, click here.

Is the internet making us smarter?

2005-08-14T09:05:00.000-03:00

Well, if not smarter but definitely more aware of the world around us. Thanks to laptops, search engines and Wi-fi, people at conferences and in classes are asking smarter questions. During a presentation or a lecture, someone in the audience can Yahoo certain facts and understand the topic better which would help ask better questions. Some teachers say that today’s students are asking more questions than their predecessors, possibly because parents have access to the internet and when asked a question by their children, they can have a reply other than ‘Because!!’. If your kid was to ask you something you don’t know about, search Wikipedia and you should get the answer.

The eBay of banking

2005-08-12T18:35:00.000-03:00

Zopa lets ordinary citizens borrow money from other ordinary citizens -- no bank needed. This service is open to any UK resident over 18 years who clears a credit check. There are 2 categories for borrowers, those who have strong credit history and those who have a weak credit history. Those in the latter category pay higher interest rates. Zopa, meanwhile, takes a 1 percent commission from every borrower's loan. I think the eBay model can be added to many other businesses too and it may well bring the barter system back from the dead.

Turn your life around

2005-08-09T00:24:00.000-03:00

The Suite Vollard in Curitiba, Brazil is supposed to be the world’s first revolving apartment building. It has eleven 3,000 square foot units, each of which occupies a whole floor. The owner of an apartment can rotate the apartment as well as control the speed and direction of the rotation and a 360 degree rotation can take from anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. The bathrooms and kitchens are in the stationary core of the building so that the pipes and wires don’t get twisted. At 300k an apartment, I would prefer to walk to the other side of the apartment if I want a different view but it's a cool building nonetheless.

Iraqis now look for freedom in cyberspace

2005-08-07T14:17:00.000-03:00

Iraq wants to administer and control the internet domain name .’iq’. The domain name is technically under the control of a Texas-based company called InfoCom, whose owner is a Palestinian, Bayan Elashi. Bayan Elashi is currently on trial in a US federal court for funding the hardline Palestinian movement, Hamas. This could one of the reasons the Iraqi government want the domain name under their control.
The US-led Coalition Provisional Authority recently conducted a survey of internet use in Iraq and only about 6% of Iraqis said they have internet access and only 2% said they use it regularly. I don’t know how reassigning control over the .iq domain will help improve these figures but many Iraqi officials are optimistic that it will help educate people about the internet in Iraq.

Viruses target Vista already

2005-08-06T08:56:00.000-03:00

Viruses for the new Windows version, Vista, have already begun to surface. The security firm, Fsecure, has reported that an Austrian virus writer has published five viruses to illustrate vulnerabilities in Vista. This can be seen as a really good thing. Lets get the operating system shaken and tested before the final version is released. The number of computers running Windows makes Microsoft the most prominent target for hackers and I think Microsoft will stand up to the challenge. To help improve the security of the operating systems, Microsoft invites security professionals (a.k.a hackers) to take their shots at Windows software at Microsoft’s Redmond campus. These sessions are called 'Blue Hat' sessions and the name is a takeoff on the White Hat and Black Hat categories used to describe good and bad hackers. The Blue, of course, represents the color of Microsoft's logo.

Phishers Hack eBay

2005-08-04T22:20:00.000-03:00

A flaw on the eBay site has allowed hackers to redirect the sign-on process to a phishing site. This means that you could log in from a genuine eBay webpage and then be redirected to fake site which would ask for your information to confirm that you are the genuine account holder or whatever. This is a step up from being directed to a fake website to log into eBay in the first place. So, if you get an email which has a link that takes you to eBay, delete that email. This latest effort makes it even more difficult for the users to detect a phishing attack as the user is being taken to a genuine page and then to the hacker’s website. What other ways will they find to rob us?

Apple finally realizes it can have more than one button on a mouse

2005-08-03T18:07:00.000-03:00

All these years, Mac users had to press the ‘Control’ key and then click the mouse to access the alternative menu because the mouse is just one BIG button. After 10 years of being different, Apple is releasing a multi button mouse called the ‘Mighty Mouse’. Is anyone else noticing a trend here? Apple first switches to Intel and then changes the type of mouse that made them so different. Wonder what they will do next.

A reason to run away from infrared

2005-08-02T13:42:00.000-03:00

A vulnerability in many hotel T.V. infrared systems can allow a hacker to obtain names and room numbers of guests from the hotel billing system. The hacker could read the e-mail of guests who use web mail through the TV, putting the users at risk. Adam Laurie, technical director of the London security and networking firm The Bunker showed Wired News how he conducted such attacks at hotels around the world. Laurie is known as ‘Major Malfunction’ in the hacker community. He also revealed how infrared used for garage door openers and car-door locks could be hacked. If you are interested in getting freebies at the hotels, all you need is a laptop running Linux, an infrared transmitter and a USB TV tuner. We are sure to hear more of ‘I did not rent that movie!’

The truth is still out there

2005-07-27T19:49:00.000-03:00

A British citizen, Gary McKinnon, has been accused of committing the "biggest military computer hack of all time" by the U.S. government and he is fighting extradition to the U.S. If he is convicted, he can face up to 70 years in jail. He is accused of gaining entry into 97 U.S government computers including machines belonging to NASA and the Department of Defense. They also claim that he accessed passwords and deleted critical files from the Earle U.S. naval weapons station which crashed 300 computers for a day. McKinnon, in his defense, says that he only deleted files once, accidentally, and that he gained unauthorized access to military systems just to look for evidence of UFO conspiracies.
I wonder if he found anything.

Bill Gates wants to frisk you

2005-07-26T18:59:00.000-03:00

Starting today, anyone who wants to update their Windows operating system will have to go through a piracy check. The exception to this rule is the update of critical security patches. Even a pirated copy of Windows will get the security patches while other add-ons will require validation. In an attempt to convert the users of pirated copies, Microsoft will reward the ones coming out of the closet with two options. Those who send in their pirated CDs, show proof they paid for it and fill out a piracy report will get a free copy of WinXP and those who do not have the CDS but will fill out a piracy report will get WinXP at a discounted price. We might find a bigger drive to buy pirated CDs, which will be surrendered to Bill in exchange for a legal copy of Windows XP (which will be free).
And you thought you couldn’t get good ideas from this website.

Earth Attacks!

2005-07-25T19:28:00.000-03:00

MSN has now jumped onto the map bandwagon. Google Maps had got a lot of attention from their sites, Google Maps and Google Earth and it’s become tradition that Google releases a new technology and the rest follow. Anyways, MSN’s Virtual Earth is a map service and it has the usual features and also a ‘locate yourself’ feature. Using this feature, mobile users could pinpoint where they are. From there, they could easily find gas stations, restaurants, or whatever, provided that they are online. MSN Virtual Earth is in Beta stage right now and supports only the United States at this time.
Everyday, we are getting closer to ‘enemy of the state’. Now the terrorists can decide where they want to strike with better tools at their disposal. God help us.

Take me to your dealer…or just give me his Orkut ID

2005-07-24T21:47:00.000-03:00

Brazilian police have arrested 10 people accused of selling drugs online. These drug dealers were using Google’s international social networking website, Orkut. Orkut allows members to join and set up online communities to discuss everything from doughnuts to drugs (I guess). Several million Brazilians have become devotees of Orkut since Google launched the networking site in January 2004. They make up more than half of Orkut's 7 million plus members. One can only join Orkut by invitation, so if someone needs a fix, ask me for an invite to Orkut.
Disclaimer: I signed up years back before the Brazilians got there.

Dont shoot me, I am 'just' the messenger..maybe not

2005-07-22T09:00:00.000-03:00

John M Perry, the head of the payment processing firm that was hacked to expose 40 million credit card numbers, told congress that his company is facing imminent extinction because of its disclosure of the breach and the industry’s reaction to it. ‘As a result of coming forward, we are being driven out of business’, he also added that if his firm was forced to shut down, other companies will think twice before disclosing such attacks. First, if a company does not disclose an attack, not only will it be driven out of business but also face charges for not disclosing the attack. After this attack, a lot of processing companies will be monitored regularly so I don’t think any company could get away by just keeping silent about the fact that they have been hacked. Second, after an investigation was carried out by Visa, it was clear that CardSystems knowingly violated contractual requirements for how long credit card data were supposed to be stored and how they were secured. So what is John Perry trying to tell us? Is he trying to tell us that his company should be forgiven for their faults which exposed millions of consumers to possible fraud just because they told us about it?
Would you forgive them?

How to make a German bird sing the Ghetto Gospel

2005-07-21T09:55:00.000-03:00

According to German ornithologists, birds have learnt to imitate the ring tones they hear. Richard Schneider of the NABU bird conservation centre near the university city of Tuebingen stated "The birds have an uncanny ability to mimic these ring tones. This has picked up in tandem with the boom in mobile phone ownership”. The best mimics are jackdaws, starlings and jays. The ornithologists also claim that the birds are merely adapting to the environment which includes these annoying ring tones. So if you hear a bird mimicking Turn me on (by Kevin Lytle), don’t panic, it’s just their new mating call.

Click here to see the story on the inquirer

Happy Birthday Dumas!!!

2005-07-20T10:32:00.000-03:00

I would like to wish Dumas a very very happy birthday. Hope you have an awesome day Dumas. :)

China’s pursuit to create better pigs

2005-07-20T10:25:00.000-03:00

China will be sending ‘pig sperm’ on board the Shenzhou VI spacecraft in October. Some of the sperm will be kept outside the biological capsule and some inside and the experiment is being carried out to study the effect of cosmic rays on pig sperm. China became the third country behind U.S and Russia to launch a human into space two years back but it will be the first to do this (the things people do to be the first in anything). During the mission in October, two astronauts will orbit the planet five or six times. These two Chinese astronauts were last seen in Hollywood looking for Porky Pig. I wonder why Porky Pig is pointing up in the picture. Maybe they did find him.

Beer goes open source!!!!!

2005-07-19T10:55:00.000-03:00

Move over Linux, here comes ‘Vores Øl’. ‘Vores Øl’ is the world’s first open source beer and Version 1.0 is a medium strong beer (6% vol) which is deep golden red in color. Here is the good thing about open source, people are free to use the recipe to make beer and sell it in stores but they will have to publish the recipe under the Creative Commons License and give credit to the group of students from IT University of Copenhagen. That’s not asking much, is it? The reason for the creation of this open source beer is not to get the world drunk but to see what happens to the open source structure for a universal product like beer.

Click here to get the recipe and start making your own beer. You know what you will be getting at my parties :)

Just give them the finger

2005-07-18T08:43:00.000-03:00

Those of you who interpreted the headline in a way it was not meant to be interpreted, shame on you. An ‘Edeka’ store in the German town of Ruelzheim has introduced a paying system by which a customer needs to place his/her finger on a scanner in order to pay for their merchandise. All the customers need to register at first by sampling their finger print and giving their bank or credit card details. The shopping chain is confident that the system will be successful as the chance of two people having the same fingerprint is about one in 220 million. Looks like the whole world is going biometric.

ajayshroff.com Beta version released

2005-07-16T09:31:00.000-03:00

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……….

2005-07-15T09:15:00.000-03:00

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

2005-07-14T09:28:00.000-03:00

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

2005-07-12T16:01:00.000-03:00

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

2005-07-12T10:52:00.000-03:00

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

2005-07-11T09:34:00.000-03:00

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

There still might be hope

2005-07-08T09:59:00.000-03:00

In a world where fanatical extremists attack innocent people and large companies spend their free time suing each other, it’s reassuring to see world leaders and CEOs showing that they care about what is happening in the world. Tony Blair was the first leader before the G8 summit to show his support for Africa and the environment and unlike other leaders, he wants to do all he can to help. Bill Gates made a surprise appearance at the Live 8 show to voice his support and as much as people may dislike Bill Gates and Microsoft, he has done a lot as a philanthropist. Bill and Melinda Gates have endowed a foundation with more than $27 billion to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and learning. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, called up the family of a teenager who was killed for an iPod. Steve Jobs spoke to Errol Rose who was Christopher's (the victim's) father and asked how he was doing and conveyed his sympathies. "He told me that he understood my pain," Rose said. "He told me if there is anything, anything, anything he could do, to not be afraid to call him. It really lightened me a bit."

I am sure there are many more stories out there that will support the title of this post and if you do know of any, please share them with us.

Just a second

2005-07-07T09:31:00.000-03:00

An extra second will be added to the year 2005 to make up for the slowing down of the Earth’s rotation. This second is called a ‘Leap Second’ and it is the first one to be added since 1998. One of the culprits behind Earth’s unpredictable (to an extent) rotation is our moon because the tidal force exerted by the moon affects the rotation of our planet.
The first Leap Second was added in 1972 as the technology was developed for accurate time-keeping and between the years 1972 and 1983, a second was added every year. The clock on Dec. 31st this year will read 23h 59m 59s ... 23h 59m 60s ... 00h 00m 00s. Normally, the seconds would roll from 59 directly to 00. So just wait a second longer before you wish everyone a happy new year.

(The picture is of a very old astrological clock from Prague.)

GoldenPalace.com gets Ahead

2005-07-06T09:46:00.000-03:00

You have heard of crazy auctions on eBay and this one isn’t any different. Karolyne Smith, from Utah, auctioned off her forehead as advertising space to any company that was willing to pay $10,000. Her auction reached the No.2 spot for the most watched auctions and the bidding amount was at $999.99 before GoldenPalace.com hit the ‘buy now’ button on eBay and agreed to meet her demand of $10,000. The employees at the tattoo parlor spent 7 hours trying to talk her out of it but she would not listen. She believes her 10 year old son needs a private education after falling behind in school and the money will go towards that education.

Click here if you want to see videos of her getting tattooed.

I might be willing to give a spot somewhere on my arm as advertising space to Alexander Keiths for a life-time supply for their beer (amount of beer is negotiable) and I would like to have them delivered home on a periodic basis (delivery terms are negotiable too). Are you listening Mr.Keiths?

Honey, I shrunk the Corporation

2005-07-05T10:55:00.000-03:00

A Taiwanese stock broker accidentally bought 251 million worth of shares (!!!!!) with a wrong keystroke. The company she works for, Fubon Securities, is looking at a paper loss of more than $12 million. However, the company has decided to keep the shares as their outlook looks pretty good but they will still be firing her. Apparently, they had a new computer system installed and she was not familiar with the system. Makes you wonder why wasn’t she trained properly and also, how did the new system allow such a huge buy? Shouldn’t there be some kind of check to see if you are either Gordon Gecko or just plain crazy before you press the 'enter' button? I think the company is as guilty as the stock broker.

Batman Begins Well

2005-07-05T07:19:00.000-03:00

I finally got to see the movie i was waiting for. Read my review for Batman Begins on Reel 2 Reel. I would like to thank Dumas for giving me an opportunity to contribute towards her blog.

The review

Where there’s a will, there is wireless

2005-07-04T10:59:00.000-03:00

What the local council of Glastonbury did not know when they had imposed noise restrictions is that they will be setting the stage for a new fad. Silent Discos. These restrictions affected the festivities at the music festival as the music had to be stopped shortly after midnight which prompted the organizers to use a simple solution – wireless headphones. The music, instead of being played on loud speakers and bass bins, is streamed into wireless headphones that audience will be using. I am sure it will look weird to see people dancing if you don’t have a headphone on and to make things even stranger; there are 2 radio frequencies with 2 different kinds of music. So if you see one person jumping and another person grooving, it is ‘most likely’ that they are listening to different kinds of music. There will also be some ambience music for those who would prefer to have just a conversation at the music festival.
I hope this gets popular, would be great to have parties at home and not disturb the whole neighborhood. Would you go to a Silent Party?

Deep Impact: The real thing

2005-07-03T14:00:00.000-03:00

NASA has sent out a probe called ‘Deep Impact’ that will meet the comet ‘Tempel 1’ at 1:52 a.m. EDT Monday. ‘Deep Impact’ will release a 816-pound projectile into the comet and then record the result from a safe distance. This study is being carried out to study the formations underneath the surface of the comet. Hopefully, we will find what comets are made of and if we can blast the bejesus out of any comet that is on a collision course with Earth. I have always had this fear, among other things, of a comet colliding with Earth and killing every living being. Isn't that a scary thought?

To read more about Deep Impact, click on the links below.

Impactor Away: Deep Impact Probe En Route to Comet

Scientists brace for a deep-space impact

They don't want your money, they want your voice

2005-07-02T11:15:00.001-03:00

The Long Walk to Justice calls on the leaders of the world’s richest countries to help Africa by doubling the aid, dropping the debt and making the trade laws fair when they meet in Gleneagles on 6th-9th July. Support the cause by signing your name on the Live 8 website. I did.
Click here to go to the Live 8 Live Website. You can also upload or MMS your picture to 0044 7774 777 444 and it will be posted on the G8 gallery.

Microsoft closes the window for Win2k

2005-07-01T12:05:00.000-03:00

Microsoft divides its product lifecycle support into 2 phases, mainstream and extended and Microsoft has ended the mainstream support for Windows 2000. People may consider this to be a bad move as Windows 2000 is still popular especially among small and medium size business but we have to look at the issue from Microsoft’s point of view as well. This operating system is old and it has redundant standards built into it. To continue mainstream support for this OS would mean re-engineering Windows 2000 to reach today’s standards. With new types of virus coming out everyday and new software being developed that uses features of Windows XP, it is tedious effort to bring Win 2K up to speed. For all those people still using Win 2K (more than 1/3 of the people who read this blog use Win 2K), start planning your migration to Win XP, it is not worth taking the security risk with all the data and identity theft out there.

(I am out of town this weekend so please excuse the less frequent update of this blog.)

There’s a chip in my ‘Strawberries and Cream’

2005-06-29T13:16:00.000-03:00

People say that the Wimbledon Championships have not changed since 1877, not to the lay man anyways. Listed below are a set of technologies being used around the Wimbledon tennis courts this fortnight.
- Wired and wireless IP phones are used by the organizers that help keep walkie talkie radio waves free and the grounds clear of unnecessary cabling.
- Security personnel carry wireless internet enabled hand-held computers on which they can watch the games, helping with the exact timing at which they can usher in spectators.
- A shot tracker called Hawk-eye is used by broadcasters to replay critical umpire calls. This technology creates a 3-D image of every rally played.
- Along with the mountain of match data collected, shot tracker helps coaches and players study further into the players’ performance.
- The IBM website gives real-time scores of the matches in progress. There are 3 massive internet farms hosting the Wimbledon website.

Luckily, we did not have the Hawk-eye during John McEnroe’s career; he would really have had nothing to scream about and let’s face it, his tantrums were entertaining.

This is one frog that should ‘croak’

2005-06-28T09:40:00.000-03:00

A new version for the theme from Beverly Hill’s Cop, Crazy Frog Axel F, became the first ring tone to reach no.1 in the U.K, singles chart (what kind of music do they listen to?). It has been a craze all over U.K..... until now. There are stories emerging about how Jamster is robbing customers. One user, Hannah Bayman, ordered the ring tone after seeing an advertisement on T.V and since then, she has been sent hundreds of messages from Jamster inviting her to download more ring tones. Hannah was charged £3 for every message she received from Jamster!!! Many clueless mobile users get signed up for such services and they get charged for the spam they receive as messages. I had the same problem with sms.ac, I was sent spam everyday and at the end of the month I was charged by Rogers for the spam I received. The customer service at Rogers said it was no point changing my phone number as whoever is sending these ‘premium’ messages would find me anyway as long as I am on the Rogers network. Does that mean that our phone networks are giving out our personal information to any company that would pay something like 1 cent for a phone number? What happened to all the laws out there protecting our personal information? We blame hackers for identity thefts when there are companies we should trust that sell our personal information.
(sms.ac was nice enough to stop when I replied ‘End’ or ‘Unsubscribe to one of the messages)
Have you been robbed by a phone company or a messaging service?

London turned into a live Monopoly board

2005-06-27T09:45:00.000-03:00

There used to be a time when kings had their own live chess boards with people representing chess pieces and you have seen it in one of the Harry Potter movies too, but now, you can have your very own live Monopoly board. Hasbro has fixed GPS tracking devices on 18 London cabs so that they can be tracked real time and this helps you play Monopoly real-time!! You choose which cab driver you want to play with, pick your properties and place your houses and hotels and you are ready to go. You get to play for a day and you try and make as much money as you can. I call Park Lane and Mayfair!!! (For those of you who have not played Monopoly, these properties rock.)

Click here to go to http://www.monopolylive.co.uk/

The Queen – ‘I want to break free’

2005-06-26T10:44:00.000-03:00

Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II, said that she finds Sony’s products too difficult to use. The Queen told Sony’s new CEO, Howard Stringer, that the remote controls of Sony’s products are confusing and that they have too many arrows. As Sony does not think that of old women as their target market for their hi-fi products, I don’t think Mr. Howard would have taken the complaint seriously and ordered a revamp of Sony’s products (I hope). The Queen was also recently in the news for buying an iPod. She sent a courtier to the Apple store on Regent Street to pick up a silver iPod mini and the courtier is said to have asked for a ‘royal discount’. Now why would the Queen of a country ask for a discount? If the Queen needs a discount, shouldn’t we all get iPods for free. What do you think?

Monks take to photography

2005-06-25T08:55:00.000-03:00

The world’s oldest monastery, Saint Catherine's, plans to use hi-tech cameras to study further into the Codex Sinaiticus. The Codex Sinaiticus is the oldest surviving bible in the world and the monastery will use cameras to photograph parchments at different wavelengths of light which will highlight faded texts masked by time and overwriting. This technology is called Hyperspectral imaging. Photographing of these documents may involve using 4 cameras taking images from different angles and then stitching the image together. Presently, a 72 mega pixel camera is being used to photograph other documents at this monastery and they hope to get these images up on a website by mid 2006. Maybe we can use this technology to test Dan Brown's theories in 'The Da Vinci Code'.

And in the Blue corner, coming in at 6 feet tall………

2005-06-24T10:17:00.000-03:00

I can almost hear the announcer at a boxing match introducing IBM’s Supercomputer known as Blue Gene. I would like to call this event the ‘Computer Olympics’. It is held twice a year and the reason for this frequency can be attributed to the rapid development in the computer world. Every time you look around the corner, there is a faster processor released by Intel or AMD and it is no different in the supercomputing world. At the International Supercomputing Conference (held in Heidelberg, Germany), IBM’s Blue Gene clocked 136.8 trillion calculations per second, or teraflops (sounds like a Looney Tunes word).
IBM also came in second with a computer called 'BGW' which clocked 91.2 teraflops,
Silicon Graphics Inc’s Columbia came in third clocking 51.87 teraflops.
Did you know that the human brain processes information at about 100 teraflops? I wish I had known that during my math adventures in school.
Click on the links if you want to learn more.

Blue Gene, Linux top supercomputing list

IBM's Blue Gene Remains Tops In Supercomputer Rankings

Foxy!!!

2005-06-24T08:33:00.000-03:00

Mozilla Europe has come up with this funny online advertising campaign featuring Firefox. Firefox is the new browser that is taking the internet by storm and it has been grabbing market share away from Internet Explorer which many companies thought to be impossible. It is nice to know that the Microsoft will be learning a few lessons from Firefox and will include ‘tabbed browsing’ in the new version of Internet Explorer. Anyways, back on the subject of this online advertising campaign, check out the ads on the Funny Fox website.

The Chip That Jack Built

2005-06-23T09:04:00.000-03:00

Jack Kilby (November 8, 1923 – June 20, 2005), the Nobel Prize-winning engineer who invented the microchip died on the Monday, 20th of June, 2005 in Dallas. Most of us have not even heard of Jack Kilby but every time we use the computer and most modern consumer electronic appliances, we are using Mr.Kilby’s invention. He held 60 patents and also went on to become the co-inventor of the first handheld calculator. From anyone who ever used a computer, Thank you Jack.
Click here to learn more about Jack Kilby

Did you know I can’t tell time?

2005-06-22T09:27:00.000-03:00

You have seen them at the coffee shop, you have sat next to them at the movies, you may even have had conversations with them, and they lurk everywhere. Yes, I am talking about “Geeks”. People say that I qualify as one too; I disagree although the subject of this blog is not helping my cause. The geeks have a new toy, there is a new watch in the market that displays time in binary format and if you see someone wearing this, be prepared to talk in 1s and 0s. This watch displays the time using the numbers of the binary sequence. The values of the lighted LEDs are added to calculate the time; add the top LEDs to get the hour and the bottom ones for minutes. Sounds like a lot of work to me but some guy called Terence Wong says that all that one really needs is the ability to do mental arithmetic. Why??? . Why can’t I look at my ‘normal’ watch and tell the time? Ok, I get it Terence, when someone looks at the watch and asks ‘what the hell is that?’ you say it’s a watch and ONLY I CAN TELL THE TIME and then give the all knowing smile.
You should be calling ‘Hitch’ pretty soon.

Just when you thought it was safe to get back into the water

2005-06-21T11:53:00.000-03:00

MasterCard has confirmed that a hacker got into the systems of Cardsystems Solutions and stole 40 million credit card numbers. Cardsystems Solutions is MasterCard’s Atlanta-based payment processor partner. Now the blame has finally come down onto Microsoft because Cardsystem Solutions had its systems running on Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system and IIS Server 5.0. What we are seeing here is how the blame is being pushed from company to company. The way I see it, MasterCard should be blamed for being irresponsible enough to have a partner like Cardsystems Solutions and Cardsystems Solutions should be blamed for not using the right patches or upgrading their software and also not storing the transaction data in encrypted form !. MasterCard does not have the details of the credit card numbers that have been compromised so if you have not been notified, don’t think you are safe. Keep an eye on your card transactions and contact your bank if you find irregular activity on your card. Hmmm, I can see the tagline in their next TV ad, ‘There are some things hackers can’t steal, for everything else, there’s MasterCard.’

The word ‘Payphone’ takes a new meaning

2005-06-20T09:49:00.000-03:00

Your cell phone could moonlight as a PDA, a digital camera and an mp3 player and now it is all set to take on another role, your wallet. Simply put, all that a cell phone needs is a chip that could transmit credit card details on demand to a terminal in the supermarket and the transaction is done. In Japan, DoCoMo provides this service to its subscribers helping them buy things at 20,000 stores and vending machines. DoCoMo, along with Visa, have created this service called VISA PPI which enables credit card payment through infrared transmission. The users can download their credit card information onto their phones and then use the phone to send the details to POS terminals. We may soon stop carrying ‘Plastic’ and start carrying more ‘Silicon’. (you will not be credited for any breast implants jokes that you might post as comments, I have cracked them all)

FIFA to try out chips

2005-06-17T14:45:00.000-03:00

FIFA is considering using microchips in footballs at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. This will help match officials confirm whether the ball crossed the goal line or not. The implementation of these microchips will depend on the tests that will be carried out at the under-17 world cup at Peru in September and October. I wonder how this chip will work. What if the part of the ball that doesn’t have the chip crosses the line? Will there be many chips all over the ball? Will they ask Roberto Carlos to go easy on the ball? Hopefully these questions will be answered soon.

There’s a new Easter egg in town

2005-06-17T10:24:00.000-03:00

For years people have been telling me I should eat slower, chew my food and to tell you the truth, I would follow their advice for a day and then go back to eating at my normal pace. Not to sound like a billionaire with companies all over the world requiring me to work 24 hours a day but, WHO HAS THE TIME? Well, we all do and Powerseed created this little egg that would remind us that its time to take it easy and chew. This gadget costs $49.95 and comes with a 112 page manual! The egg blinks at you every 30 seconds telling you its time to take a bite or we can turn on the soft beep option in case you are sitting by the pool during a Sunday afternoon eating what you barbequed and can’t see the blink. I would love to read this manual that costs an extra $14.95. How difficult would it be to follow a 30 second blink? If anyone ever buys this egg, please let me know, I would love to interview you and post your comments on my blog. With good intentions, of course.

What makes Batman the Batman?

2005-06-16T14:34:00.000-03:00

It’s the suit. Have you realized that although batman is a superhero, he does not have any super powers? He uses his quick thinking and athletic ability to get the bad guys and of course his suit is a big contributor. You know his bat mobile is fast, his cave - trendy, his sidekick - helpful, his butler – old and his enemies – colorful. But wouldn’t you want to know what the Bat Suit is made of? Click here to find out

To ‘e’ or not to ‘e’ : The future of passports

2005-06-16T11:01:00.000-03:00

The testing of e-passports is underway at the L.A. international airport and the Sydney airport. These e-passports contain computer chips with biographic and biometric information of the passport holder. The ‘live-test’ will run from June 15 to September 15th, 2005. The participants in this test include the air crew for certain airlines and hopefully they will not be busted and taken to Abu Gharib if a bug jumps up in the system. To be on the safe side, these volunteers will also be carrying their current passports. Although the authorities claim this to be a step up in security, I am not so sure. It would be easy for a terrorist to walk around the airport with a reader in hand and collect information from people’s e-passports and then use that information to create the chip or even email the information to another country and help terrorists travel using that information. This is a great implementation of wireless technology and I hope it works.

Click here to read the latest update as of today on e-passports

Bend it like Robo-Cop

2005-06-15T16:02:00.000-03:00

Robots will be kicking off for the top honor at the RoboCup 2005 in Osaka, Japan. Unlike before, these robots will not be controlled by humans and they will be depending on their A.I. except for the humanoid league where some of the robots will be tele-operated. The humanoid robots show basic skills of soccer players like shooting a ball or defending a goal and related objects are distinguished using color. Who said techno geeks are not into sports?
Click here for the official site of RoboCup 2005

What is Podcasting?

2005-06-15T14:23:00.000-03:00

Blogs helped create a writer out of you, now Podcasts will help create a DJ or RJ out of you. Podcasting is the new ‘in-thing’ to do and I suggest you jump on this bandwagon as soon as you can. Here is a simple ‘how it works’, you can go to any podcasting website, download podcasts as an MP3 onto your computer or MP3 player and listen to it whenever you get the time or create an MP3 and upload it to these podcast websites and your audience can download them.
Frankly, I have not tried this concept myself but I am going to give myself a shot of this once I get home today. It sounds really interesting and this would be a nice way to hear the latest music without the pains of advertisements (I believe most of the podcasts do not have advertisements yet).
Now that I have whet your appetite, to learn more about podcasting, click on the links below

How stuff works: Podcasting

Wikipidea: Podcasting

Podcasts: New Twist on Net Audio

The freshest podcasts in the known universe

Podcast.Net

A directory of cool stuff for the podcasting community

Howard Stern, if you are reading this, here is a great opportunity for you to get one over the FCC.

'We dont need no democracy' - Corporate America

2005-06-14T19:31:00.000-03:00

George Bush and the Americans are trying to spread democracy all over the world, countries are going to war, soldiers are dying, all in the name of 'Democracy' but Corporate America will have none of that. Microsoft is the latest addition to the list of American companies who chose otherwise. Click here to read further

Hollywood studio executives brush aside Microsoft's aggressive proposal for the film version of Halo

2005-06-14T09:05:00.000-03:00

Microsoft's tried to sell Halo to Hollywood and demanded a $10 million upfront fee for rights, approval over the cast and director, and 60 first-class plane tickets for Microsoft representatives and their guests(??!!??) to the movie's premiere and it did not want to spend a dime to make the movie. Are there any sugar daddies reading this? Click here to read further

Amazon goes dark

2005-06-10T11:03:00.000-03:00

Anakin Skywalker is not the only one who went to the dark side this spring, amazon.com did too. Click here to read further

CEO Steve Jobs shouts 'Intel Inside' too

2005-06-06T16:36:00.000-03:00

Steve Jobs announced on Monday that Apple would gradually shift its Mac line to Intel-based chips over the next two years. Click here to read further