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Ye Maya Chesave - Review

2010-03-01T20:37:00.003+05:30

Was trying to recall what was the last love story I have seen in Telugu during interval. To my surprise I couldn't recall any such beautiful love story. I have ended up with a suggestion from a friend, Sakhi from ManiRatnam.

The movie is really really beautiful. It might be beautiful because of those scenes where there is a definite chemistry between two crazy lovers, may be because of the scenic landscapes in Kerala, may be because lovely music from mastreo Rehman and mostly because of the amazing Jessy. Yes, it is because of the this actress this flick was so beautiful. Chaitu did his role well but he was set par in comparison with this debut heroine.

The movie really has a great composer, though it won't involve big cast it just revolves around a simple boy who has a great passion for this girl from other community. Kudos to Gautam Memon, he really took a great care in carving these two characters and capturing the feelings and conversations.

Guess there is no need to discuss the story as you might have read already some where. Even it is very rotten story if I say a Hindu boy fallen in love madly with a Christian girl and they struggle for their love against their parents. But it is where Gautam Menon did his magic. He did a splendid role in just showing how deeply they were in love and how much each wanted the other. Rehman's invisible magic did a great role in highlighting their emotions, it was very clear. Also the light effects in the movie was awesome.

Jessy (Samanta) did her job excellently. She can just easily struck our hearts (Why this guy Memon always shows his heroines in sarees, its really painful ). Chaitanya apt for his role well, he also did his role well but felt there is something definitely lagging in his performance. I can say there is nothing worse than watching him dance . Trust me on this. There is no other significant role apart from these two characters. A little role by Krishnudu was nice and he did well.

This is really a A Class movie with no action and most of the movie deals with only emotions between them. I did heard a mixed talk but I really like the movie and from me it's a must watch for all those who loves to watch slow movies with lots of emotions.

Give a warm welcome to 2010 !!

2009-12-31T14:26:00.002+05:30

I wish a very successful, cheerful and peaceful year for all of you...
keep all the faith in what you believe and have a wonderful year ahead..

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Amaravathi - a failed Thriller

2009-12-07T15:09:00.004+05:30

When a Director has come up with a simple story and had worst choice enacting roles, then the movie will obviously becomes a piece of shit. This is what happened with Amaravati. I felt Ravi Babu made a big mistake choosing Tarak for a psycho role. At first I felt he is doing good but in later scenes in the movie proved he is not the one.

Ravi Babu tried shooting another thriller movie, he failed to do so with a sloppy story. Though first half of the movie will pass (only 1hr :P) but later part will get u bored.

Ravi Babu played well in his police officer role. He took a wise step in choosing a positive role, if he chosen the negative role which was played by Tarak, it will be much worse. Tarak as usual sucks!! he is never an artist, and I don't think he can do any role. All the rest have small roles. Bhoomika and Sneha did well in their roles.

BTW what I liked in the movie is Tarak have no dialogues about his babai and tatha. This credit goes to Ravi Babu only, I never imagined him without chanting them.

Go watch this film if you don't have anything else to do. Guess you cant see this film in camrips, its too dark (:P). A small suggestion to pregnant ones is NEVER try to watch this film.

Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of 'SixthSense' technology

2009-12-03T10:00:00.004+05:30

Watch this Video first. Its amazing and I can say its just begining. Watch the video and you will understand to how much extent this can change our lifes.

At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper 'laptop'.

In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.

Aarya2 - superb fun

2009-12-01T15:27:00.004+05:30

I really felt well after watching the movie, coz tollywood is still having some good stuff. Sukumar did an excellent job in choosing everything.

The story is very unpredictable with a great screenplay. China example entante, first choosina scene malli last lo choosedaka gurtheraledu.. anta packed movie. I am sure you will be lost in the movie. Cinema anta superb comedy, I can still laugh by remembering those scenes in particularly from the first half.

Each and every one in the film did a very good job. Allu Arjun eppatilage manchi comedy chesadu. Asalu aa phycho angle highlight. Superb characterization. Inka dance ayithe superb ga chesadu. Tollywood lo oka perfect Hiphop chese hero vunnanduku I am so happy, I haven’t seen such a hiphop dancer in India. Almost 2-3 songs lo full hiphop steps, keka. Brahmmi as usual ga kummesadu. Rest of the actors Navdeep and Ajay kooda baga chesaru. Kajal enta bagundo ikkada rayalenu.. tana kosam inko sari choodochhu [:D] really..

Mottam meeda Aarya title ki vunna fame ki a matram taggakunda teesadu movie ni. Audio hit ayinappude it’s almost confirm that this film is going to rock and now it does. Cinema kontamandiki enduku nachhatamledo nakaithe teliyadu kani, naku matram chala baga nachhindi. Don’t miss this film, it really has a lot of fun.

Want To Try Out Google Chrome OS ?

2009-11-20T16:47:00.004+05:30

Some years back I was wondering why it is not possible to do everything on a browser from working on documents, watching movies, songs, mails and working on other applications like Office and Photoshoop. Time has come for it, watch out for coming years, its the age of Web Apps. Everyone and every thing is going into clouds. I am so happy to see what I whished is happening.

The Google's Chrome OS is just a curtain raiser for the race of the new age. Expect more n more in future. All the information is at a go, not only the public info but also your workplace may also will be with you always.

And anyone who wishes to give a try at Chrome OS just follow the link.
It's from TechCrunch, guides you on how to install ChromeOS using VirtualBox.

What is Google Chrome OS – Video & Screenshots

2009-11-20T16:22:00.002+05:30

The Chrome OS team has a produced a new Common Craft style video that gives an overview of the new Chrome OS is 3 minutes.

Here’s a high-res screenshot of Chrome OS..

..and here are some Chrome OS screenshots captured from the press event:

1. Chrome OS Application Menu

2. Chrome OS Media Browser

Cloud Storage - Everything you save inside Chrome OS is put on the cloud like this notepad application which will sync with Google Docs.

4. Switching between Chrome instances - It’s much like Alt+Tab of Windows 7 with live preview

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

2012 - Dont miss!! we never gonna watch it in real

2009-11-20T15:26:00.003+05:30

WOW! - This is the first word that you will say after watching the first half of this movie. The graphic work and sounds are pretty well. I was overwhelmed with the way they created deja vu in the movie. Though all the scenes will be like other Hollywood flicks where there will be always a narrow escape, but mostly I felt all the excitement. But coming to the second half, it won't that much exciting. I felt some thing lacking in the second half, may be bcoz there wont be much senti while the whole world is tearing apart into pieces.

All the credit should go to the movie backstage crew, and credits to the imagination of the Director (Roland Emmerich).

I heard the budget of the movie is around 1000cr. After watching the movie, I was wondering how come they make a movie worth 10% of our state(AP) budget (that feeling was very strange to me )

Anyway it is a must watch film only at theatre. Go for big screens. BTW do you think this kind of things gonna happen in 2012??? watch out guys we have only left with a couple of years :P . . .njoy to your maximum.

Online Blood bank details and Donor details

2009-11-16T15:11:00.004+05:30

I came across this site from a friend
There is a site: http://www.friends2support/ .org
where you can search for a Particular blood group, you will get thousand of donor addresses.
Pass this message 2 all you know. It will help many.

Transfer Money Anywhere in India Via Mobile

2009-11-16T13:08:00.001+05:30

Tata Indicom, in association with Corporation Bank and PayMate, has launched 'Green Money Transfer'- a person-to-person mobile money transfer service. The transfer of funds via mobile will be facilitated by PayMate's technology, Corporation Bank's banking system and Tata's PCO and True Value Shop (TVS) network.

Customers can register for this service at a Green TATA PCO, TVS or with Corporation Bank. Upon registration, they will receive an mPIN to enable them to authorise the transaction.

Example:

1. A sender in Mumbai goes to a Green Tata PCO or TVS and places a request of transferring Rs. 5,000 to his parents in Pune
2. The sender hands over the cash to the Green Tata PCO or TVS. The PCO or TVS triggers an IVR call to the sender
3. The sender enters his mPIN to authorize the transaction and gets a Transaction code on his mobile to be conveyed to the recipient.
4. The recipient goes to the nearest registered Tata PCO or TVS and shares the transaction code.
5. The PCO or TVS triggers an IVR call to the receiver who enters his/her mPIN to verify the transaction
6. Once the verification is done the cash is handed over to recipient

The companies say Green Money transfer service is primarily targeted at the un-banked population of the country by providing them a branchless banking service to send and receive money effortlessly.

Corporation Bank says this facility is being proposed as an additional service to the rural masses who can now receive remittance in their Bank account instantaneously and draw through Business Correspondents at their own place. This will enable the Bank to augment customer acquisition as well.

This facility has been launched on a pilot basis in Kerala and will later spread to other areas.

30 reasons why India loves Sachin Tendulkar

2009-11-16T13:04:00.001+05:30

On 15th November 2009, Sachin Tendulkar will complete 20 years in international cricket. In a build up to that momentous day, MSN India presents a series of features dedicated to the Mumbai maestro. Take a look at the first one in the line-up.

Sachin Tendulkar: Celebrating 20 years in international cricket

Highest run scorer in ODIs: 17178 runs
Most number of hundreds in the ODIs: 45
Most number of nineties in ODIs: 16
Most number of man of the matches in the ODIs: 60
Most number of man of the series in ODIs: 15
First Cricketer to pass 10000 run in ODIs
First Cricketer to pass 15000 run in the ODI
Highest run scorer in the World Cup: 1,796 at an average of 59.87 as on 20 Mar 2007
Most number of Fifties in ODIs: 91
Appeared in Most Number of ODIs: 436
He is the only player to be in top 10 ICC ranking for 10 years.
Most number of 100's in Tests: 42
He is one of the three batsmen to surpass 11,000 runs in Test cricket, and the first Indian to do so
In 2003, Wisden rated Tendulkar as No. 1 and Vivian Richards at No. 2 in all time Greatest ODI player
In 2002, Wisden rated him as the second greatest Test batsman after Sir Donald Bradman.
Tendulkar is the only player to score a century in all three of his Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debuts
In 1992, at the age of 19, Tendulkar became the first overseas born player to represent Yorkshire
Tendulkar has been granted the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award and Padma Shri by Indian government.He is the only Indian cricketer to get all of them.
Tendulkar has scored over 1000 runs in a calendar year in ODI's 7 times
Out of his 56 man of the match awards only 5 times India has lost.
In November 2006, Time magazine named Tendulkar as one of the Asian Heroes.
Most Centuries in a calendar year: 9 ODI centuries in 1998
Highest individual score among Indian batsmen: 186* against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999.
Sachin was the fastest to reach 10,000 runs taking 259 innings and has the highest batting average among batsmen with over 10,000 ODI runs
On his debut, Sachin Tendulkar was the second youngest debutant in the world
When Tendulkar scored his maiden century in 1990, he was the second youngest to score a century
Tendulkar's record of five test centuries before he turned 20 is a current world record
On 3 January 2007 Sachin Tendulkar (5751) edged past Brian Lara's (5736) world record of runs scored in Tests away from home
Second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to make over 10,000 runs in Test matches
Became the first Indian to surpass the 11,000 Test run mark and the third International player behind Allan Border and Brian Lara.

Comments:
Certainly the greatest batsmen to play the the game of all time and cricket will be indebted to the genius who is the greatest ambassador for the game and upcoming cricketers should make him their role model not only how to play,but how to carry themself on and off field.
A True Legend of the Game and Country.

Source:MSN

Windows 7 RTM "improved" activation bypassed by hackers

2009-11-16T13:00:00.002+05:30

Earlier this year, Microsoft and Lenovo teamed up to tackle the first Windows 7 activation workaround. It was based upon a leaked OEM volume activation key, and was neutralized fairly quickly.

Things have been fairly quiet for a while. Microsoft's anti-piracy team had cooked up WAT - Windows Activation Technology - in hopes that it would prove more successful at thwarting unlicensed Windows use than its predecessor WGA. And so began the latest round of cat-and-mouse with pirates. 'You've got a better activation system? We'll build a better crack,' is how the game usually plays out.

It should come as no surprise, then, that there are two new activation bypass tools spreading like wildfire on the Internet. Called RemoveWAT and ChewWGA, the apps provide one-click patching of Windows 7 RTM installations.

Microsoft, of course, has promised a speedy response. Still, once a system is patched and a user shuts off Windows Update, there's really not much Microsoft can do - or is there? Maybe they know something we don't.

[via CNet]

Doodle - choosing new GOOGLE LOGO (INDIA)

2009-11-16T12:58:00.001+05:30

Doodle - choosing new GOOGLE LOGO (INDIA): This was the amazing contest run by Google, they have kept one competition along the india to choose the best logo visit Doodle for Google for more information.

After taking numerous entries they have come up with the different results which are posted in this page. These finalists are divided into three categories

1. 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd standards
2. 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th standards
3. 7^th, 8^th, 9^th and 10^th standards

Do visit this page and encourage these small kids by casting your vote.
I dont tell you this will not take even one minute but you surely enjoy seeing the ideas of the children and the different logo's of the students if you love Google..

Here are some LOGOs

Microsoft, IBM And Yahoo Are Vying To Take Part In India’s Unique ID Project

2009-11-12T13:24:00.002+05:30

It appears that both Yahoo and Microsoft are duking it out to help power the technology for India’s Unique Identification project. Spearheaded by Indian tech czar and Infosys co-chairman Nanden Nilekani, the project aims to assign every Indian citizen with a unique identification number that will identify him or her, similar to a U.S. social security number.

This is no small task considering India’s population of 1.2 billion citizens. It will involve a powerful technology to assign the numbers and a vast database to organize each unique ID. That’s where Microsoft and Yahoo come in.

Earlier this year, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates expressed a strong interest in participating in the project, meeting Nilekani and assuring him that Microsoft would be able to assign the IDs swiftly.

This week Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz lobbied India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to use Yahoo for the project, but Bartz says that there’s no commercial interest in the deal and Yahoo would help power the project on a non-profit basis. Bartz added that Yahoo would be the optimal choice because Yahoo has a major presence in India. The company claims that three out of four Indians access the Internet through Yahoo.

While Yahoo is vastly popular in India thanks to sites like Yahoo Cricket that appeal to the population, its hold may be slipping. Gmail recently overtook Yahoo Mail as the most trafficked email site and Yahoo was forced to shut down its Indian social network SpotM a few months ago, as Google’s Orkut and Facebook emerge as the dominant social networks in India.

It’s unclear if Microsoft has the same “non-profit” stance as Yahoo, but obviously both companies want a piece of a highly ambitious project that could be implemented in other emerging countries. And it looks like IBM is also throwing its hat into the ring as well, so it should be interesting to see which tech giant wins out.

via TechCrunch

Call Of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare 2

2009-11-11T15:06:00.007+05:30

Y'day while I was watching the news, trailer of COD4 - Modern Warfare 2 caught my eye. After watching that trailer, I was so excited about it. After so many days I felt very interested to play a game. You can catch the trailer at this link.

Earlier I have played Call of Duty 2. I can recall that game, it's a master piece. Hope this version of COD also rocks. Watch out for torrents..

Here are some more specs:

IGN rating - 9.5

IGN link: http://pc.ign.com/objects/142/14280895.html

Min Specifications:

Minimum Requirements
OS: Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (Windows 95/98/ME/2000 are unsupported)Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor or better supported Memory: 1 GB RAM Graphics: 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT or better or ATI Radeon 1600XT or better DirectX: Microsoft DirectX 9.0c Hard Drive: 12GB of free hard drive space Sound: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card Internet: Broadband connection required for Multiplayer Connectivity. Internet Connection required for activationRelease Medium
1 DVD-ROMMultiplayer Functions
Online Versus Multiplayer (18)
Online Co-Op Multiplayer (2)
2 Local Co-Op PlayersOnline Play: 18 Versus/ 2 Co-op

New barcodes are works of art

2009-11-11T11:09:00.001+05:30

When's the last time a barcode caught your eye? If you lived in Japan, it could have been fairly recently. D-Barcode is a Japanese design firm that has been mixing it up in the barcode world since '05, and — as you can see from the samples above — the end result is a lot more interesting than a uniform series of lines. It can be pretty pricey, though: $1,500 for a design, and $200 a year for licensing fees. If you want a code all your own, that can even cost as much as $4,000. That begs the question — what's a unique design worth?

Granted, Japan is the undisputed king when it come to eyecatching design in packaging, and these barcodes are an extension of that. For me, a cleverly designed product can tickle all the right places and get me to make the purchase. What about you? Does design and attitude factor into your decisions when choosing a product?

Fast Company, via swissmiss

Google’s Go: A New Programming Language

2009-11-11T11:05:00.002+05:30

Google’s Go: A New Programming Language That’s Python Meets C++:

Big news for developers out there: Google has just announced the release of a new, open sourced programming language called Go. The company says that Go is experimental, and that it combines the performance and security benefits associated with using a compiled language like C++ with the speed of a dynamic language like Python. Go’s official mascot is Gordon the gopher, seen here.

Here’s how Google describes Go in its blog post:

Go attempts to combine the development speed of working in a dynamic language like Python with the performance and safety of a compiled language like C or C++. In our experiments with Go to date, typical builds feel instantaneous; even large binaries compile in just a few seconds. And the compiled code runs close to the speed of C. Go is designed to let you move fast.

We’re hoping Go turns out to be a great language for systems programming with support for multi-processing and a fresh and lightweight take on object-oriented design, with some cool features like true closures and reflection.

For more details check out Golang.org.

To get things started the right way, here’s Go’s rendition of Hello World!:

05 package main

07 import fmt “fmt” // Package implementing formatted I/O.

09 func main() {

10 fmt.Printf(”Hello, world; or Καλημέρα κόσμε; or こんにちは世界n”);

11 }

Google Wave

2009-11-10T15:27:00.003+05:30

After a great await, I got a Wave invitation today and I am so excited about it. I was really waiting for it from so many days. As Google is boasting, this Wave will really have an impact on the mail communication we are using these days. Wave is a integrated product with all the now a days needed features like mails, chat, file collaboration etc.

Wave will be good for people, who runs many thread of mails. There wont be any difference if mails are one to one. If there are active people in a chain of mail, Wave can show it a lot better.

To learn all about Wave, watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ
this video is of 1Hr 20 mins in duration, if you cant spare (even bare :P) that much time,
watch the below short form of it (this is just 7mins).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pgxLaDdQw

Wave is spreading at a great pace, there are already apps created for iPhone and other smart phones to access Wave. I have also seen a Wave notifier application for desktop which notifies new waves. And the most surprising, amazing and funniest is Gina Trapani from LifeHacker
came up with a Complete Guide to Google Wave. This book will tell u all about a Wave.

Hope this Wave will be available to all my friends, coz unlike a mail id the other guy to whom u wish to communicate should have a Wave too :(
And you can all wave me @ nageswar3@googlewave.com and thanks to Balaji for sparing me a invitation.

Paint.NET Releases Big Update, Still a Killer Photoshop Alternative [Downloads]

2009-11-10T13:28:00.001+05:30

Windows only: Paint.NET is a free, fast, and powerful image editor for Windows. It's a giant leap above Microsoft Paint, and a serious alternative to bigger, bloated (for most users, at least) image editors like Photoshop or GIMP.

(Click the image above for a closer look.)

We've highlighted Paint.NET in the past, but it just released its first significant update in years, so we'd recommend grabbing the latest. Paint.NET handles most of the basics you'd expect from advanced image editors, and the update has added new effects (including new blurs and distortions), better performance (though Paint.NET has always been really light and fast), and a complete refresh of the user interface (enhanced for Aero/glass). Check out the release post for a more detailed changelog.

If you need to do the occasional image tweaking or heavy image editing but don't want to spend a lot of cash on Photoshop or dive into GIMP, Paint.NET is well worth the download. It may not be able to do everything Photoshop does, but it can do everything most users need. Paint.NET is a free application, Windows only. Thanks Paul!

Paint.NET [via Paint.NET Blog]

Google Talk to Add Video Conferencing

2009-11-10T13:26:00.001+05:30

Google Talk to Add Video Conferencing: Gmail Chat, the web-based version of Google Talk, added last year voice and video chat. The feature is now available in iGoogle and orkut, but it will probably be added to other Google services, as well.

SFGate reports that Google will improve the service significantly in the coming months.

Gmail's voice and video chats are now limited to one-to-one communications, but Google wants to broaden that capability to more than two participants and make it more robust all around for Apps.

'This [current Gmail capability] is the first step in a much broader set of features we hope to roll out over the next six to 12 months around video [and voice] chat capabilities,' said Rishi Chandra, a Google Apps product manager. 'It's a great opportunity for us to push that space along.'

It's not clear whether Google plans to integrate Marratech's video conferencing software, acquired in 2007.

Other features that will be added to Google's services: 'intelligent meeting scheduling in Google calendar', 'intelligent workflow in the [Google Docs] applications', 'lots of new functionality being developed especially around formatting' in Google Docs.

Try out Microsoft Office Web Apps

2009-10-27T15:02:00.003+05:30

Microsoft Office Web Apps is a free online version of Microsoft Office that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and the OneNote Web App.

Using Office Web Apps, you can view as well as edit Office documents on any computer and since these apps work inside the browser, you can even edit Office files on a Mac without requiring the Office software.

Sign-up for Office Web Apps

If you are not signed-up with Office Web Apps yet, here’s another opportunity:

Step 1: Create a Windows Live ID if you don’t have one already or if your existing Live ID uses a country other than US.

Step 2: While signing up, make sure you select 'United States' for the Country field else the program won’t let you in. You may use NY for the State field and 10001 for the Zip Code.

Step 3. Once your Live ID is setup, just click this link, accept the license agreement and the Office Web Apps Technical Preview will be activated for your Live ID.

If you face any issues while executing Step 3, here’s an alternate approach -- go to skydrive.live.com, upload any dummy Word file to the Documents folder and you should then see an invite to join the Office Web Apps programs. That’s it. Thanks Sean.

Use Google Docs as a Batch PDF Converter

2009-10-27T13:48:00.003+05:30

If you have a huge bundle of Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets and PowerPoint Presentations on your hard drive that you would like to convert into PDF at once without investing in commercial software like Adobe Acrobat, try Google Docs.

While it has always been possible to convert Office documents into PDF using Google Docs, the new export feature makes it even easier for you to batch convert Microsoft Office and OpenOffice file formats into PDF (or HTML) in three easy steps.

Batch Conversion to PDF with Google Docs

Step #1 – Create a new “input” folder in Google Docs where you’ll upload all your documents and presentations that are to converted into PDF.

Step #2 – Now select the Upload Document option in Google Docs, set the destination folder to the one that you created in Step #1 and upload* all your documents.

Google Docs officially supports the following file formats though you may also upload images:

Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt, .pps).

Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), OpenDocument (.odt) and StarOffice (.sxw).

Microsoft Excel (csv, .xls, .xlsx) files and OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods).

[*] You may also use the email option to upload documents onto Google Docs but that would put everything on the main folder and managing documents can therefore become a issue especially when you have too many files.

Step #3 - Once all files are uploaded onto Google Docs, open the dashboard again and select the “input” folder from the right sidebar. Select all the files in this folder and choose “Export” under “More Options”.

Here’s select “PDF” (or HTML) as the output format and all your Word Documents, presentations, spreadsheets, etc. will be instantly converted into PDF.

And if you are converting a large batch of documents into PDF, you don’t have to wait in the browser for the conversion to finish as Google Docs will automatically send you an email once the processing is over. The email will have a link from where you can directly download all the PDF files in one large ZIP.

Thanks to Amit...

UP - Another shot from Pixar

2009-10-13T17:44:00.003+05:30

Another perfect movie from Pixar, with every little detail perfectly addressed. But I felt this film is not that much exciting compared to their previous ones.

The movie deals with a old man who start pursuing after his(n his wife's) childhood dream adventures. The story has so much fun n some deeply touching scenes. There is a lot of fun with that fat boy, a naughty bird, n most of all speaking dogs.

Finally.. if you are a fan of Pixar, you will definitely njoy this movie a lot!!

How To Enable, Totally Buttonless Google Home Page

2009-10-09T16:25:00.003+05:30

Google has been rolling out to a small subset of users that takes the search giant's obsession with minimalism to the extreme. The page features exactly two elements: Google's famous logo, and its search box. That is, until you move your mouse, when a nifty fade effect reveals with rest of Google�s standard navigation options.

This morning Google Blogoscoped posted a special snippit of code that you can copy and paste into your browser to enable the new minimalist design. But that version falls short of greatness: it includes the Google Search and I'm Feeling Lucky buttons. For those looking for the ultimate in austere, these buttons are little more than ugly blemishes marring an otherwise perfect design.

To set the cookie, do the following:

1. Head to google.com

2. Paste the following code into the address bar of your browser:

javascript:void(document.cookie='PREF=ID=2602f2ce49362929:U=7b6893b1882d5a94:TM=1239881060:LM=1254195610:L=0qXJlAA:GM=1:S=CwDGQD20E8U14zDg;path=/; domain=.google.com');

3. Hit enter or �go� to run it (you have to be on google.com at the time). It will not give you any feedback, it will just run and set the cookie.

4. Refresh the page.

Thanks to Don MacAskill over at SmugMug for the tip.

Write Your Own Name using Barcode

2009-10-08T18:36:00.001+05:30

This image may not make sense to the human eye but if you were to show it to a barcode scanning machine, it would immediately recognize the text hidden in that image as "Google".

How to create a 2d Barcode Image

If you are excited about Google�s barcode logo and would like to generate a similar Barcode image for your own name or brand, go to morovia.com, choose "Code 128" as the Barcode format and uncheck the setting that says "Show human readable text".

For instance, here�s a barcode representation of "digital inspiration".

How to decode a Barcode Image

Now the reverse case. Say you come across a barcode image on the Internet and would like to read the text that�s hidden inside that graphic. You can either get a barcode scanning machine, or a more easy option would be that you upload the image to ZXing.org and it will try to decode that image for you online.

You can either upload the barcode image from the desktop or simply pass on the web address of the image and ZXing will decode it for you as in this example.

Related: What are QR Codes

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Ramayan Retold by an NRI Kid

2009-10-08T15:50:00.002+05:30

A young second generation Indian in the US was asked by his mother to explain the significance of "Diwali" to his younger brother, this is how he went about it... "

So, like this dude had, like, a big cool kingdom and people liked him. But, like, his step-mom, or something, was kind of a bitch, and she forced her husband to, like, send this cool-dude, he was Ram, to some national forest or something.... Since he was going, for like, something like more than 10 years or so.... he decided to get his wife and his bro along.... you know....so that they could all chill out together. But Dude, the forest was reeeeal scary shit... really man...they had monkeys and devil s and shit like that. But this dude, Ram, kicked with darts and bows and arrows... so it was fine.

But then some bad gangsta boys, some jerk called Ravan, picks up his babe (Sita) and lures her away to his hood. And boy, was our man, and also his bro, Laxman, pissed... all the gods were with him... So anyways, you don't mess with gods. So, Ram, and his bro get an army of monkeys...Dude, don't ask me how they trained the damn monkeys... just go along with me, ok...

So, Ram, Lax and their monkeys whip this gangsta's ass in his own hood.... Anyways, by this time, their time's up in the forest... and anyways... it gets kinda boring, you know... no TV or malls or shit like that. So,they deci ded to hitch a ride back home... and when the people realize that our dude, his bro! and the wife are back home.... they thought, well, you know, at least they deserve something nice... and they didn't have any bars or clubs in those days... so they couldn't take them out for a drink, so they, like, decided to smoke and stuff ... and since they also had some lamps, they lit the lamps also...so it was pretty cooool... you know with all those fireworks.... Really, they even had some local band play along with the fireworks... and you know, what, dude, that was the very first, no kidding.., that was the very first music-synchronized fireworks..... you know, like the 4th of July stuff, but just, more cooler and stuff, you know.. And, so dude, that was how, like, this festival started."

The mother fainted...

HAPPY DIWALI ...

Find Errors in your English Writing with the ESL Assistant

2009-10-07T15:10:00.001+05:30

While the majority of international communication happens in English, a lot of these people, who communicate in English on a daily basis, aren’t very comfortable in English as it is not their native language.

They therefore sometimes struggle to express themselves correctly in English, only to be dismayed that native English speakers can immediately notice the flaws in their writing.

When English is a Foreign Language for you

Microsoft Research has created a useful online proofing tool to help people who use English as a foreign language.

This tool, called ESL Assistant, is a web service that analyzes text for common mistakes that non-native English speakers, especially those from Southeast Asia, often make in their writing such as the choice of determiners and prepositions.

Type some English sentences into the text box and the tool will look for possible problems in your writing and indicate them with wavy green underlines.

Once it identifies possible mistakes in your writing, the tool will generate suggestions to correct the problems. What’s even more interesting is that the tool will find real-world examples of both the incorrect and correct usage from other web pages on the Internet using Bing.

You can just hover your mouse over the suggested phrase and the search results in the two Bing windows will change automatically.

Check Errors in your Outlook Emails with ESL

Anyone can use the ESL (English as Second Language) Tool to check their emails and other writings for errors online though the site does require the Silverlight plugin.

Another way to use it it to download the ESL addon for Microsoft Outlook and integrate the web service into your email program.

There’s a bit of a privacy issue here because when you click the ESL Assistant button in Outlook to check your message for errors, the program will send the entire text of your email to the ESL website where you can review it for problems. Also, if you correct errors online, you will have to copy the text back into Outlook manually.

Although ESL Assistant will not catch or correct all errors, it often finds problems that are overlooked by normal spelling and grammar checking tools. This makes it a great tool to expand your options and make sure that your English sounds as correct as possible.

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Wake up S!D - Review

2009-10-06T09:40:00.002+05:30

Quite a simple movie. It just passes away. Nothing to criticize and nothing to appraise. If you just wanted to pass some time, this is really worth watchable.

Coming to the movie crew Ranbhir (Sid) did his role well in a boy, who just roams with no responsibility n aims, and story deals how he turns to a man who is works normally :P Konkanasen and Anupam just got fixed to their roles. But I didn't understand why they opted for Konkana for a role where there can be some scope for glamour. Its really hard to watch her in all those close up shots :'(

All I liked in that movie is Sid's T-shirts :D really are they crazy.. it looked so cool to have all those animie stuff. And Shankars music is awesome, all the background scrolls were simply perfect. Anyway another avg movie in Ranbhirs bag and a warm welcome to Ayan Mukerji (director) for his debut. Go and watch it, u wont regret it :)

Imagine Running the Windows Operating System In Your Browser

2009-09-28T20:34:00.001+05:30

You have seen visual search in Bing, now here’s another Silverlight based site that might leave your impressed.

Windows OS – Made of Silverlight

The site is windows4all.com and it feels like you are running an online copy of the Windows operating system in the browser. (Hit F11 to experience in full screen mode)

Windows4all not only replicates the look and feel of a freshly installed Windows Vista desktop environment inside your browser but comes with a variety of applications that are similar to the default applications included with Windows. These include Notepad, Windows File Explorer, Media Player, Calculator, Sidebar gadgets and even games like Solitaire and Spider.

Double click the IE icon on the desktop (or use the Vista start menu button) to fire up Internet Explorer and you’ll be able to browse the internet live inside this impressive Silverlight application.

It also includes a Notepad and when you save text files using this application, you can open the files again the next time you visit Windows4all on the same computer. You can install additional Silverlight applications into the Windows4all interface; you can pick the installers directly from from the internet or upload the files from your own computer into the Web OS.

If you are a Windows geek who is curious to know how this app was made, go to Codeplex and download the full source code. It would be neat if Microsoft offers some of these features, especially the ability to import Silverlight apps, to Live Mesh in the future!

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Create Beautiful Drawings with Livebrush

2009-09-28T20:32:00.001+05:30

Want to draw like an artist? Now you can.

Livebrush is a free motion-based drawing tool that lets you create beautiful graphics in few strokes. It’s like a free alternative to Corel Painter but extremely easy to use at the same time.

What’s unique about Livebrush is the brush tool that responds to the speed of your mouse movements. The program also ships with a wide range of brush styles and decorative patterns to help you to create impressive drawings in no time – just select a particular style and add some random strokes to the drawing canvas.

You can install Livebrush on Mac, Windows and Linux though it requires Adobe AIR. Do watch the screencast demo below to learn more about the Livebrush program.

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Easily find changes in text and code with Quick Diff

2009-09-28T15:55:00.002+05:30

If you're a developer looking for changes in code then there's a tonne of applications available for comparing two bits of code, but what if you're writing a paragraph and want to easily see the differences between two copies? It's complete overkill to create two text documents and feed them into your file comparison app of choice.

That's where Quick Diff comes in: a super-simple webapp that lets you enter two pieces of text (or code) and quickly compare them side-by-side. Sure it's not the prettiest web-app you've ever seen - but for a quick-and-dirty text comparison, I've not seen anything quicker.

originally appeared on Download Squad

Play Contra, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and more in Google Chrome

2009-09-18T13:36:00.002+05:30

Yes, Google, you can proudly herald this one as a major victory for your browser in my books. If other Javascript benchmarks haven't been anything you could get excited about, maybe this one will do it. Ben Firshman's Javascript NES emulator runs best in Google Chrome.

Just head on over to his site (which will likely start bogging down today as this little baby inevitably moves from Reddit to Digg), pick a game, and get ready for some early 90s video gaming excitement.

One downside: you'll have to be cool with a similarly early 90s style screen (think original Gameboy). You'll only get a viewable area of about 256x240. If size isn't a major concern for you, here's a list of the games you can play:

Contra

Donkey Kong

Dr. Mario

Golf

Legend of Zelda

Lemmings

Mario Bros.

Pac Man

Super Mario Bros.

Tennis

Tetris

Tetris 2

Zelda II

Super Mario Bros. 3 (partially working)

JSNES works in other browsers, of course, but not quite as well. Firefox frame rates are generally reported to be about 1/10th or less those from Chrome. Safari (and most other Webkit browsers) should be up to the task.

[via Reddit]

Don't Panic! Hides Windows From Onlookers

2009-09-18T13:16:00.001+05:30

Windows: Have some windows you might need to stash in a hurry? Don't want your boss to catch you goofing off? Everyone needs a break now and then and Don't Panic! will help you keep your breaks discreet.

While most 'boss-key' applications limit themselves to simply hiding specified applications at a keystroke, Don't Panic! strives to avoid being a one-trick pony by offering a wide variety of options for you to toggle.

You can activate Don't Panic! by either keyboard shortcut or, as seen in the screenshot here, by hitting the Don't Panic! button in the lower right corner of your monitor. You can adjust the transparency of the button or disable all together and stick to the keyboard shortcut.

Don't Panic! can simply hide the windows you have specified, even hiding the application from the Task Manager, or it can close the application either by terminating the process or closing it properly. You can also have Don't Panic! delete all the shortcuts in the recent files folder, dump your Internet Explorer history and temporary files, and purge the Recycle Bin.

One thing to keep in mind when using an application like Don't Panic! is that all of its powers are limited to changing things at the workstation you are sitting at. If your company, for example, enforces internet usage policies by monitoring the traffic coming from your terminal, Don't Panic! won't do anything to stop The Man from putting the brakes on your cubicle party.

Don't Panic! is open source, Windows only.

Don't Panic!

Facebook Introduces Google SMS Like Service in India

2009-09-16T18:58:00.002+05:30

Around this time last year, Google introduced SMS Channels in India that allowed mobile phone users to subscribe to information channels like news, weather, stocks, etc. through text messages.

Even bloggers could create SMS channels for their own blog (example) and send updates about new articles to their subscribers through SMS messages. The service is still around and continues to remain free for both publishers and mobile phone users though Google adds advertising in text messages.

Facebook recently introduced something similar in India so you can receive text updates on your mobile phone from the Facebook pages of your favorite brands, celebrities, restaurants or even websites.

As a mobile phone user, you can can join any Facebook page by simply texting fan <page_name> to 9232232665 (92FACEBOOK) from your mobile phone*.

For instance, if you want to join Digital Inspiration’s Facebook page, you can text “fan digital.inspiration” to 9232232665 from any mobile phone, and you will show up in the list of fans immediately.

Similarly, if you want to receive updates about a page on your cell, you can open that page on the Facebook site and choose “Subscribe via SMS”. To turn off updates, choose the unsubscribe option on the page itself or SMS “stop” to the same Facebook number – 9232232665.

Unlike Google SMS Channels which can be be used for both push updates and group communication, the SMS feature in Facebook is primarily push (for receiving updates from a page).

As a blogger, you can use this feature to notify readers about your most recently published articles while businesses can use Facebook SMS to communicate deals and offers with their customers (like Pizza Hut sending out discount coupons to all their fans in India via SMS).

*Before you start receiving updates from Facebook page, you need to activate Facebook Mobile. For that, just send a text message containing only the letter “f” (without quotes) to 9232232665 and you are done. I am not sure if your mobile carrier will charge your for any incoming text messages from Facebook but you’ll of course have to pay for sending one.

via Digital Inspiration

Opera Mini Gets a Password Manager & Tabbed Browsing

2009-09-16T13:42:00.002+05:30

Opera Mini, which is probably the best browser for BlackBerry and other Java enabled mobile phones, just got better.

Opera today released a new version of Opera Mini that includes tabs so you can open multiple web pages in the same browser simultaneously without having to close the previous ones.

Other new features in Opera Mini 5 that lot of you may find useful are copy-paste and a built-in password manager so you don’t have to type your logins and passwords over and over again.

Screenshots of Opera Mini 5

Opera Mini 5 is still in beta but the good part is that you can install it alongside your existing installation of Opera Mini 4. To download Opera Mini 5, visit m.opera.com/next from your mobile phone browser and download the Opera Mini 5 installer specific to your phone.

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Google Chrome 3 Brings More Speed and Features

2009-09-16T12:36:00.002+05:30

Windows only: Chrome turned one year old just a couple weeks back, and as a belated celebration, the folks at Google have just pushed out a brand new stable release in the form of Google Chrome 3.

Chrome 2 (stable) hit servers back in May, and while the folks at Google are currently on Chrome 4 in the dev channel, those of you who haven't been eager to play on the bleeding edge of Chrome releases have a lot of nice improvements in store for them in Chrome 3, including:

Speed Improvements: Chrome 3 is faster than any previous stable release on both the V8 and SunSpider benchmarks. (Google's calling it a 150% increase in Javascript performance since their first beta.) In the current Chrome 4 dev release, Chrome continues to outshine other browsers on most speed benchmarks.
The New Tab Page: Again, this is only new to those of you who've been sticking to stable releases, but the new tab page is more customizable, allowing you to rearrange thumbnails via drag and drop and pin thumbnails you want to keep around permanently.
Better Omnibox: Firefox has its awesome bar, Chrome has its omnibox. As of the stable Chrome 3 release, the omnibox adds contextual icons to help you see whether autocomplete results are suggest sites, searches, bookmarks, or sites from your history.
HTML5: Google has been pushing the envelope with what developers can do with HTML5, the new standard set of tools in the next evolution of HTML (the backbone of web pages). In Chrome 3 stable, HTML5 is standard—meaning support for video, audio, and canvas tags that bring a rich web experience to your browser without the need for third-party plug-ins like Flash.
Themes: We've highlighted a handful of the great new Google Chrome themes already, but now they're available to the stable channel users, as well.

Of course, none of this is all that exciting if you've been using the beta or dev channels for your Chrome updates, but if your workplace, for example, won't let you use anything but stable releases of software, the stable Chrome update is very welcome. Chrome 3 stable is a free download, Windows only.

(Note: Google continues its rather speedy version number jumping here—having dropped three "major" releases in just over a year. It may seem a little silly that it's now on the same version number as Firefox and looks like it'll easily beat Firefox to 4.0, but keep in mind that version numbers are largely arbitrary, so while Google may well hit Chrome 10 in another year or two, it has little bearing on how it compares to other browsers.)

Google Chrome [via Official Google Blog]

Phones with No or Fake IMEI Code to Die

2009-09-15T18:05:00.003+05:30

If you're still using that Chinese phone sans an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number - or worse, a fake IMEI code - expect your phone to become a brick Dec. 1 onwards.

After sufficient time given by the government to telecom service providers to get subscribers to legalize their handsets by acquiring a genuine IMEI number, it's time for headcounts and headshots.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has instructed Indian telecom operators to disconnect connections of handsets with fake or no IMEI numbers.

To check whether your phone has an IMEI number:
1. Dial *#06#A 15-digit number will be displayed on your handset.

2. To validate the IMEI, sms IMEI <15> to 53232 (Rs. 3 per SMS)For eg; IMEI 351869910223340 to 53232

Message displayed for correct IMEI - Success!!
Message displayed for incorrect IMEI - Alert!!! Invalid IMEI

3. In case of an invalid IMEI, you can either buy a handset with a genuine IMEI number or can follow the below mentioned instructions:

Visit only authorized GII (Genuine IMEI Implant) centers, set up on Government approved process, which can implant new genuine IMEI on the handset.
Pay a nominal charge of Rs. 199 (all inclusive) and obtain a receipt.
Carry your handset with a valid identity proof for identification purposes while visiting these centers.

The DoT has asked operators to submit their compliance report by Dec. 15.

Who Needs Photoshop When You Have PowerPoint

2009-09-15T17:42:00.002+05:30

You probably have a copy of Microsoft PowerPoint (2007 or 2010) on your computer for creating slides but do you that the same software can also be used as an easy alternative to Adobe Photoshop for applying some very impressive effects to your photos and screenshot images.

Apply Photo Effects in PowerPoint

Fire up PowerPoint, insert a blank slide and add a picture into the slide that you want to manipulate. Now select the picture while it’s there on the slide and apply any of the effects from the Format menu. Both PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 include a wide range of effects from reflections, photo frames to rounded edges that you may apply with a single click.

Once the effect is applied, right click the edited picture and choose "Save As Picture". PowerPoint will ignore all other objects that may be on the slide and will save just that edited image for you to use it at other places.

Now that was using the default settings but if you are looking for that extra bit, here’s a video tutorial from David Anderson that demonstrates how you can quickly create your own photo effects (e.g. Polaroid) in PowerPoint using tools and shapes that are already available inside the application.

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Dhoni finishes off in his way !!

2009-09-15T16:02:00.003+05:30

All hail Dhoni .....

He is the one who ensures us a victory in many of the games India recently played. After watching y'days game no one will ever think that Sachin need to think of retirement. He is just justifying his name 'God of Cricket'.

Despite the poor Indian fielding, Srilankan's too played some silly cricket, throwing away wickets in wee overs. If they could have stood steady for atleast 10 more overs, India could have faced a bitter day. Anyways a ton of thanks to them, who placed the victory in our hands.

Thanks to Dhoni, Sachin n Bajji for their super efforts in bringing the cup home.

Bing Pops With Visual Search

2009-09-15T15:59:00.002+05:30

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand keywords. Today at TechCrunch50, Microsoft senior vice president Yusuf Mehdi announced a new visual search feature on Bing which returns results as an interactive gallery of images.

For instance, if you type in “dog breeds,” it organizes them for you in a grid of images that you can scroll through using a slider on the right. When you hover over a particular image, it enters the name of that dog breed in the search box. And you can re-order the image results by size, breed, exercise needs, and Bing popularity.

There are more than 100 visual galleries ranging from movies, books, and cars to products, animals, and sports teams. The sorting categories change each time. So for movies, you can filter by release date, title, or rating. Cars can be sorted visually by make, price or mileage.

When you resort, the images fly around the screen to find their new positions. The visual search acts as a showcase for Microsoft’s Silverlight technology, which makes the animations and visual rendering possible.

“The whole concept,” says Mehdi, “is that the world of search will change. There will be a more graphic way people will search, and it will pivot how people search.”

The judges were impressed with his demo. Ron Conway noted, “I think the huge winner here will be consumers because competition breeds innovation, and this nice little battle between Google and Microsoft is fantastic for consumers.

Well, here’s how you can quickly enable Bing Visual Search in your browser.
Go to bing.com/worldwide and set your country as United States. Save the settings and you will then be able to enjoy the visual search feature of Bing at bing.com/visualsearch. Probably, Microsoft has limited the feature to US for the moment.

[via Digital Inspiration]

Google Earth 5.1 Speeds Up Your World Browsing

2009-09-11T19:03:00.002+05:30

Google Earth, the software package that lets you play Superman and find food and other spots of interest from thousands of feet overhead, has released a 5.1 version that skims the globe a bit smoother.

Google's Earth team says it's improved memory utilization to show more buildings and other content when you're zoomed in, and worked on reducing 'stuttering,' or frame drops, to make the flying feeling more smooth and, well, fun. Google goes into detail at their blog post, but we can verify that, having last used Earth in its 4.0 release, 5.1 definitely feels a bit more fluid while grabbing and pulling past our neck of the woods.

Google Earth 5.1 is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. A browser plug-in auto-installs with the Windows release, and Windows versions also load the Google Updater; the Google Operating System Blog points out a direct Windows installer link to avoid the Updater.

Google Earth 5.1: Think fast [Google LatLong Blog]

Facebook Lite goes live (lite.facebook.com)

2009-09-11T17:10:00.002+05:30

The folks over at Facebook decided their social network's user interface needed to lose some weight. So, after a few weeks on a treadmill, Facebook Lite is now available for public preview. This new fat-free version of Facebook looks to put Twitter in its sights as far as simplicity is concerned; it's more straight-to-the-point and less 'just in case you're interested.'

On the inside, Facebook Lite seems to load and run significantly faster than the standard interface. It uses far less styling and scripting, and conveys simpler information to the user. In fact, after using the regular version for so long, Facebook Lite starts to feel somewhat like a mobile website. For on-the-go people, this should speed up the social networking workflow a little bit.

Facebook Lite isn't quite ready for full-time use, however. There are still some 'to do' items. For example, six of the seven selections in the Options screen, and the advertisement on the left side of the page seems to be locked on Facebook Lite's feedback page. The rest of the interface seems to be functional, albeit lacking (though that is the general idea of a lite application) in some areas.

Facebook Lite is available for public preview to (currently) all US and India members.

[via Mashable]

USB Mosquito Stick Claims You'll Be Malaria-Free On a Laptop Safari

2009-09-10T16:15:00.001+05:30

Using an ultrasonic force field, this USB stick vows to protect you from mosquitoes during all those times when you find yourself using a laptop in outdoor situations.

It probably doesn't work, like most sound based repellents. This is what OFF spray is for people.

Damm Funny right!!!

[Uxsight via Crunchgear via Everything USB]

Apple Slashes iPod Prices, Adds More Storage

2009-09-10T15:43:00.002+05:30

At the much awaited Rock and Roll event, Apple's CEO Steve Job came up with a big bang. He announced:

iPod Nano to get Camera n in more colors
Slashed prices of iPod
OS 3.1 for iPhone n iTouch
iTunes 9

Few old models were quietly dropped and new ones with more storage replaced them. In the new iPod Touch lineup, the legendary iPod Classic gets highest capacity and iPod Shuffle gets more colorful.

Also, there's a price cut as always since September is meant to be Apple's annual product life cycle for iPods. New Faster iPod Touch Two new third generation iPod Touch models in 32GB and 64GB capacities join in the iPod Touch lineup and the 16GB iPod Touch model quietly slips out. Both new iPod Touch models support OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics for accelerated 3D graphics and are boasted to be 50 percent faster. Hence, it s believed that both new iPod Touch models have the same 600MHz Samsung S5PC100 mobile application CPU based on ARM's CORTEX A8's design.If iPod Touch carries the same PowerVR SGX chip as in the iPhone 3GS, it is still capable of running 720p HD video natively. Also, the OpenGL ES 2.0 support will allow game developers for iPhone Platform to make games with better graphics.Big bully iPod Touch 64GB can store up to 14,000 songs, 90,000 photos or 80 hours of video. That's seriously a massive storage for a handheld touchscreen device. Apart from storage bump, the new third generation iPod Touch models have new Genius Mixes feature that is capable of making up to 12 playlists automatically, based on the existing tracks on the device.Third generation iPod Touch also has voice control. So, earphones from Apple or any third party earphones with remote can be used for Voice Control on Music playback. A slew of new features would be added with the iPhone OS 3.1 software update that is available for download from the official Apple site.
Apple sells the new 64GB iPod Touch for $399 (Rs. 19,200 approx.) which is the old price 32GB second generation iPod Touch model. While the new 32GB third generation iPod Touch is now priced at $299 (Rs. 14,400 approx.). Price of 8GB second generation iPod Touch model is slashed by $30 (Rs. 1,440 approx) to $199 (Rs. 9,600 approx.) from $229 (Rs. 11,000 approx.).Unfortunately, rumors that the third generation iPod Touch will get a camera did not materialize and it's like that recent reports of camera module failure might just be true. So, it's likely that the images of iPod Touch with camera that surfaced last month might be of the fourth generation iPod Touch model.

Start Playing Multi-player Monopoly on Google Maps Now !!

2009-09-10T09:45:00.004+05:30

Have you spents hours with Molopoly in your childhood. Recall ur past days..Now comes the online version of Monopoly, guess what its on Google Maps.

Here's your chance to buy virtual property anywhere in the world. Hasbro's classic game Monopoly - City Streets is now live.

This free multi-player game utilizes the latest version of Google maps available for third party applications, where the open source Open Street Map is used as the playing board.
New players are given three million monopoly dollars to build their empire. They can use this money to purchase any property across the world (on Google Maps) that's not been grabbed yet.There's also a 'Design your own Monopoly Building Competition' that allows players a chance to have their building design (and bearing their name) included in the monopoly game. Click here for details.
Key dates to remember:Sunday 27 September 2009 midnight EST - Competition closesWednesday 30 September 2009 midnight EST - Our jury will select 3 building designs from the top rated designs and notify the winners. We will also need to verify eligibility requirements at this stageTuesday 6 October 2009 midnight EST - Winners will be announcedOctober 2009 - The winners' buildings become part of a global game of MonopolyAnd the frenzy has just begun. Start playing here!

Google Voice Message Playback Comes to Gmail

2009-09-10T09:43:00.002+05:30

If you're both a Gmail and Google Voice user, you should be thrilled with the latest feature from Gmail Labs: The Google Voice Player feature embeds a voicemail player inside Gmail so you can listen to new messages directly inside Gmail.

To enable it, just hit up the Labs link in Gmail, find the Google Voice player in mail feature, click enable, and save your changes. Now not only can you read your transcribed voicemail from directly inside Gmail—you can listen to it, too. In fact, your message status will even sync to Google Voice, so if you've listened to it in Gmail, it'll show as listened to in Google Voice, too. Handy.

New in Labs: Play Google Voice messages in Gmail [via Official Gmail Blog]

Fisichella to race for Ferrari for remaining races of 2009 season

2009-09-04T13:24:00.002+05:30

Giancarlo Fisichella will race for Ferrari at the remaining five rounds of 2009 after Force India agreed to release him from his contract on Thursday. Fisichella will replace Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer as stand-in for the injured Felipe Massa, starting at next weekend's Italian Grand Prix, before taking on the team's reserve driver role for 2010.

Force India have yet to confirm who will take over from Fisichella, though third driver Vitantonio Liuzzi is already being tipped for the seat...

Later Giancarlo Fisichella has described his switch to Ferrari as 'a dream come true' after Force India agreed to release him from his contract with immediate effect.

anyways wish him all the best... the one who brought Force India to Podium in last race gone to Ferrari now..!!! As all we know Sutil sucks and from now on no need to watch out for Force India cars :) . .

Microsoft Vine - Always Stay in Touch with Friends & Family Members

2009-09-04T10:27:00.002+05:30

Keep informed and stay in touch with friends and family

Technology has fueled a revolution in the way we communicate and stay in touch with those we care about. In work and play, technology is there to capture the moments and bridge the gaps of time and space.

But in the midst of emergencies or even simple daily problems like a change in schedule, somehow technology doesn’t quite seem to be the thing that usually brings all the pieces together. That is about to all change, thanks to Microsoft’s future-facing project - Vine.

What is Microsoft Vine

Microsoft Vine, in simple English, is a web based service that lets you form groups of people (who you think are most important to you like your close friends, family members or even your trusted neighbors) and it provides a way for you to contact any of these groups at the same time through email, text messages, and even social networking. The software is designed to make our loved ones only a click or text away at any time.

Whether you need to inform your members that your car just broke down or need to send a message to your friends that your child’s birthday party has been rescheduled, Vine lets you send that message using your preferred method of communication and all the people who you want to send the message to will receive it in the method of their choice as well.

Microsoft Vine therefore acts like a bridge between all of your most important contacts and the diverse communications platforms that they use be it email, mobile phones, IM or something else.

Getting Started with Microsoft Vine

After you sign-up for Microsoft Vine using your Windows Live ID, you will be directed to download the Vine software to your computer.

Although the service is web-centric, the initial setup needs to be done through a beautiful and modern-looking desktop application. The Vine program works on Windows XP, Vista, and 7, and it downloads and installs very quickly even on slower internet connections and older computers.

Once your Vine network is set up, you can send and receive messages either through the desktop application or through email and text messaging (on mobile phones). Here’s a screenshot of Vine’s beautiful interface that takes advantage of Aero glass when running on Windows Vista or 7.

Once you have installed the application, you can proceed to mark locations on a world map that are important to you (via Add Places), invite important people to join your Vine network, and then arrange these people into groups that will be target groups for your messages.

Vine allows each person to specify their address, home, phone number, email address, and social network credentials. Currently it only supports Facebook, Windows Live, and LinkedIn, but Microsoft plans to extend support to other services including Twitter, MySpace, and instant messaging.

The Vine application then shows a map with your locations, and shows alerts when there is a news or weather alert item for your area. Below the map it shows a grid with all of your important contacts as a pin that designates where they are and what group they belong to.

If one of your contacts sends out an alert, then it will show beside their pin. Then, through the application you can send an alert to either a specific person, group, or to all of your contacts. You can also post a report from Vine about an upcoming event, which lets you send a message, request people do something, let them know the best way to get hold of you, or what your location will be during the event.

Vine is not a Social Networking Tool

So is Vine supposed to replace my existing communications platforms such as email, IM, or social networking? No, and in fact, Microsoft Vine is designed to extend them.

The idea behind Vine is to make you and those you care about more accessible, no matter what their preferred mode of communication is. Your friends and family members could be using email, text, voice, Instant Messaging, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or something else but they can still get in touch quickly in case of emergencies and disasters.

Vine also provides a printable index card that you can print and carry in your wallet so someone else can inform your Vine network in an unfortunate event where you get involved in an emergency and are unable to contact people yourself.

How to Send Alerts with Microsoft Vine

Currently, you can send alerts to your friends and family from a mobile phone using text message, as well as from e-mail, or from the Vine application itself.

When you sign up for Vine, you get a secret email address for your group - any message sent to that email address will instantly reach all the group members in the preferred devices.

Alternatively, you may fire up the Vine client on your Windows PC and send alerts from the desktop itself. The Alerts feature can be used for disseminating time-sensitive information and other emergency situations while the Post Report feature is for situations like you reached a destination safely or say you want to share your new contact information with people who care about you.

Can I use Microsoft Vine? Will it work in my hometown?

Microsoft Vine is in beta and optimized for use only in the United States. Although you can run the program to send and receive alerts from elsewhere, the text messaging part of Vine and news alerts work only for locations inside the Unites States.

However, Microsoft does plan to expand Vine globally by the time it is fully launched. For now, though, if you do not live in America, you can still sign up and try out the parts of Vine that currently work in your part of the world.

via Digital Inspiration

Got 9 Friends? You can get Windows 7 DVD for Free

2009-09-04T10:26:00.002+05:30

Got 9 Friends? You can get Windows 7 DVD for Free:

First, answer some simple questions:

1. Do you have a computer at home that can run Windows 7. You may use the free Upgrade Advisor utility to determine if your current Windows XP, Vista or Linux machine* meets the system requirements for Windows 7.

2. Do you have 9 or more friends in town?

3. Do you live in any of the following countries - India, US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Spain or Hong Kong?

If you just said yes to all the above questions, here’s an opportunity for you to grab a free Windows 7 Ultimate DVD shipped to you without charge along with some other Windows 7 goodies straight from Microsoft.

Microsoft will do a public launch of Windows 7 on October 22 and to generate buzz around the event, they are inviting Windows enthusiasts from around the world to throw up small parties at their own homes and show off the new Windows 7 to friends and family members.

You can apply to become a party host at houseparty.com and if selected, you’ll receive a special Signature Edition of Windows 7 Ultimate edition in your mailbox.

You may sign-up to become a host using your existing Facebook account or your Windows Live ID. Microsoft will send you an email sometime in the second week of September to let you know if you are through.

*Though Microsoft has not mentioned Mac users anywhere, I guess you can also apply if your Macbook is running Windows via Parallels, VMWare Fusion, Boot Camp or some other virtualization software.

via Digital Inspiration, Thanks to Amith

The competition BEGINS

2009-09-01T13:14:00.004+05:30

Seems atlast Google search found a small competitor in its field. BING the Microsoft's new search engine took a small chunk of Google's share in web search. I have seen a latest research which showed Google occupy 78% while BING is occupying only 7%.
I am happy to see a competetor for Google, coz now they are putting more interest to upgrade fastest engine even faster with AJAX technology. It’s currently testing the feature on its “Caffeine” (thier new search engine) results pages, and some users are starting to see it live on regular Google. Now even BING is also focusing some lite on that technology.

If you want to see how the future search will work, just give a try this page. (Long Zheng, the blogger from istartedsomething, has created this amazing search experience using Bing’s AJAX search APIs.)
This is really great, its just like that !! the same feel n fast you experience while you use Google's Desktop search or Microsoft's Live search.

TabNavigator

2009-09-01T13:02:00.003+05:30

TabNavigator Brings Alt+Tab Style Navigation to Firefox:

Firefox: Looking for a visual way to quickly navigate between tabs in Firefox? TabNavigator brings Windows-style Alt+Tab switching to Firefox.

After the default installation TabNavigator enables Alt+R and Alt+W for forward and backward navigation through your tabs. You can modify the navigation keys to be any combination of Ctrl, Alt, or Shift + another key.

The initial preview is simply the favicons of the sites plus the title bar text at the bottom of a small gray box. You can increase the size of the icons or switch from icon view to full preview. Instead of the favicons you'll see a preview of the actual page. The default preview size is 500px, which isn't a bad size for previewing—although if you frequently tab between pages that are very similar looking, you may want to increase the preview size for clarity.

TabNavigator is free and works wherever Firefox does.

TabNavigator

[via How-To Geek]

Force India on podium

2009-08-31T19:38:00.004+05:30

Yippeeee..

Y'day is really really a g8 day for Indian Formula One history. Thanks to Fischella who stood on the podium with our Force India car in Belgium GP. I did really excited watching Malya, he is really very happy.

I did never thought Force India can make it to the podium this year or even in the next season :P. Dont know wat Malya told to Fischella, who took pole in Qualifying and came second in the race. After watching the race I felt, strategy team didnt played their role well. If they could have done well, I am sure Force India might got pole in the race. Anyways Fischella gave good show.. he even got very close to Kimi in wee laps.

Anyways I am also happy to see Foce India on Podium. Hurray..!!!

QuickGun Murugan - a Movie from gutter

2009-08-31T15:02:00.002+05:30

I have seen QuickGun Murugan last Saturday. wow what a bang on head. Believe me there is nothing in that movie, even entertainment. My strong advice is to never ever attempt to watch that film. After watching that movie I am not even in a mood to write about it. The movie really sucks great.

FontCapture Turns Your Handwriting into a Font

2009-08-31T13:42:00.002+05:30

If you've got a few minutes, stylish script, and a scanner, FontCapture can turn your handwriting into a font. That keeps all your mad-scientist notes on the computer, yet still gives them that essential lab bench grit.

Go to FontCapture and download their font template. Once downloaded, print it off and carefully fill in the single-sheet grid. You don't need to fill in every slot for FontCapture to create your font. If you don't use letters like ó, ò, or ñ in your daily writing, feel free to skip over them.

Once you've filled out the template, you upload it to FontCapture and it processes your handwriting into a font for personal use. That's all there is to it, but it's a pretty neat way of giving an image or document a consistent look, but a look you crafted yourself. FontCapture is a free service and requires no signup.

FontCapture
[via LifeHacker]

Google Docs Automatically Translates Documents into 42 Languages [Google Docs]

2009-08-28T08:38:00.001+05:30

While most of us don't frequently find ourselves needing to translate our documents to various languages on-the-fly, Google Docs just announced a new feature that'll be great for those who do: The service now automatically translates docs in 42 different languages with a few mouse clicks.

Translating docs is a breeze: Just hit up the Tools menu, select Translate document, then choose the language you want to translate to. Docs will open the translated document in a new window, then offer to replace the original document with the translation or copy the translation to a new document. It's probably not for everyone, but it's a nice feature, nonetheless, and yet another example of Google's continued march toward integrating their various services.

Translate documents: sharing across languages and generations [Official Google Blog]

Good NEWS to all the MBA aspirants

2009-08-27T15:23:00.002+05:30

Cabinet approves seven new IIMs:
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the setting up of seven new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) that will get operational in two phases. Four IIMs would be set up in Trichy, Ranchi, Raipur and Rohtak in the first phase and the classes would start from the 2010-11 academic year. The other three in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan will get operational from 2011-12.

The exact locations in these states are yet to be decided. Briefing reporters here on the Cabinet decision, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said an allocation of Rs 451 crore as non-recurring expenditure and Rs 118 crore as recurring expenditure has been sanctioned for the first phase.

Mininova Ordered to Remove All Torrents which have NO copy rights

2009-08-27T08:52:00.001+05:30

Today, the judge ruled that the world’s largest BitTorrent indexer has been ordered to clean up its site and remove all torrents that link to infringing content.

BREIN’s intention was not to shut down the site. Instead, the organization called for a filter based on infringing keywords and possibly digital fingerprints to guarantee that the rights holders have sufficient means to protect their content.

The court agreed with BREIN’s assessment that Mininova is not doing enough to protect the rights of copyright holders, and ordered the site to remove all torrent files that link to infringing content within three months, or pay a penalty of 1000 Euro per infringing torrent with a maximum of 5 million euros ($7 million).

Mininova’s notice and takedown policy that allows copyright holders to remove infringing torrents is not sufficient, the court said. Interestingly, the recently announced copyright filter that Mininova launched together with the Motion Picture Association (MPA) wasn’t mentioned in the verdict.

The court did not agree with Mininova’s defense that it is impossible to moderate all torrents that are uploaded to the site. It further said that Mininova is encouraging its users to download copyrighted material, helped by the several moderators that the site has in place.

The moderators keep the site clean and ‘family friendly’ by removing torrents that link to adult content, viruses and fake files. They do this proactively and in response to user feedback, the court concluded, pointing out that they should also be able to moderate torrents that link to copyrighted material.

It was further concluded that Mininova profits from copyright infringement though the ads that appear on the site.

Mininova co-founder Erik Dubbelboer said in a response: “We are obviously not happy with the verdict.” Mininova is considering to appeal the decision, which they have to do within three months

Article from: TorrentFreak

Better Contact Management For Gmail

2009-08-27T08:40:00.001+05:30

Gmail made a tweak last night that brings better contact management to the service. When you click the “To:” or “CC:” links in front of each address field, a box pops up with your contact list. (See example at right). It is a simple change, but it saves you from having to go to another page to find a contact.

Most of the time, Gmail users probably won’t use this feature because Gmail already gives you a list of auto-complete suggestions as you begin typing in a name into the “To:” field. These are based on people you’ve communicated with recently, and usually does the trick. But if you haven’t emailed someone for a long time, their name doesn’t pop up. It also doesn’t help if you can’t remember their name.

Anything that reduces the amount of steps it takes to complete an email is a plus in my book. However, this feature is a bit hidden. You have to click on the “To” or “CC” links to expose it, something many people might only do by mistake the first time (which is why I’m telling you).

The contact chooser also works for groups.

posted via TechCrunch

OfficeTab Adds Tabs to Microsoft Office

2009-08-26T08:27:00.002+05:30

OfficeTab Adds Tabs to Microsoft Office:

Windows only: Microsoft Office plug-in OfficeTab adds tabbed document support to Excel, Word, and PowerPoint—one can only wonder why Microsoft doesn't include this feature by default.

Once you've installed OfficeTab, you can head into the settings panel, where you can enable or disable tabbed support in each application, move the tabs to the side or bottom, and change the appearance of the tabs with a number of styles to choose from. You can right-click the tab bar to add a new document tab, and each time you open a document it will be added to a new tab automatically.

OfficeTab is a free download for Windows only, and while it was created by a Chinese programmer, the download itself contains an English version. Readers should note that on our test machine, at least, we got a Visual Studio setup prompt every time we opened an Office application after setting up this plug-in—but your mileage may vary.

Download: OfficeTab

Kaminey - kuch tho kum huwa

2009-08-25T08:55:00.003+05:30

First of all I should say, I was little bit disoppinted with the film after reading all the critics in Newspapers and other sources. They did created a hype which is missing in the movie. I rushed to the movie with g8 hopes n you know what .. I dont remember most of the scenes from the next moment I left the theatre.

Anyways Thanks to Vishal for giving such a nice script !! It's really a tight script with lots of fun n suspense. He really directed the film with a new trend.

The movie revolves around a departed twin brothers. Instead we can say their worlds revolve around them. You should not leave any scene in the movie, if you so u will not regret it. coz all the scenes are linked.. n linked.. n linked.The first half is the foundation for the second half.. It all deals with introducing all the charecters in the movie. Second half will show you how they reacted to a chain of incidents happend to them.

Shahid did an excellent job in both the roles. He did really showed amazing difference between the roles as twin brothers. One with the fooper(super) accent and other with lot of carelessness about life. n abt Priyanka, those who watches this film will never forget that she is a topper in home sciences ;). Really a g8 role.. All the other supporting charecters just fit for their roles. Give a try to this film if you felt bored in your weekend.. it will just pass way slowly..

Yahoo Upgrades Mail, Messenger, and Search

2009-08-25T08:40:00.002+05:30

Yahoo Upgrades Mail, Messenger, and Search:

Yahoo Mail users are getting 25MB attachment limits and easier photo uploading, a new Messenger beta allows for full-screen video chat and social network link-ins, and searchers will get refinement and analytic results as part of Yahoo's big Monday announcements.

The big thing that everyone will find use for is an increase in Yahoo Mail's attachment size limits from 10 to 25MB. Multiple photos and images can now be selected for upload, and rotated and previewed before they're sent. Yahoo's also allowing Mail users to hook in third-party applications like Flickr, PayPal, Picnik, Xoopit, and ZumoDrive, and adding a consistent header to all its applications. These features, available in 'New Yahoo! Mail,' should be rolling out to all users shortly.

Messenger actually has a whole new app out, one that allows for full-screen video chat and a side-panel Updates view that shows what your contacts have been up to on Flickr, Twitter, and other web spaces. The beta, for Windows only, is a free download.

Finally, certain Yahoo searchers will get results that offer both filtering by topic/subject, and contextual follow-ups when you search one term after another. As Yahoo explains it, if you search for 'cat' and then 'jaguar,' its engine should know that, based on the 'cat' search, your 'jaguar' is much more likely a creature than a luxury vehicle.

Damn Simple !!!

2009-08-25T08:29:00.003+05:30

so simple naa... even I did worked as a computer expert ;) to troubleshoot users issues for a BIG company, trust me I never used this chart [:P] . . ofc used a different kind

Nokia released a NetBook

2009-08-25T08:25:00.001+05:30

Nokia Booklet 3G: Dawn of the smartbook:

These days all the companies are focusing in upgrading their NetBooks. This compitetion giving users a great pleasure. The race has taken to new heights with the Nokia entering the ring.

Today Nokia unveiled its upcoming Booklet 3G, the company's first netbook, though it has a few features that make it stand out from the pack. It certainly looks like a netbook, with a full keyboard, an Atom processor that can run Windows 7, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and a 10.1-inch display — plus the added bonus of an HDMI output. But its smartphone-esque features can't be denied: a hot-swappable SIM card, built-in 3G/HSPA connectivity, and GPS (well, A-GPS) with Ovi Maps. Not to mention it's a lightweight, measuring just 0.78 inches thick and weighing 2.75 pounds.

If you believe the 12-hour rated battery life and Nokia's promise of "all-day mobility," the Booklet starts to feel like more than just a netbook… it's really closer to a smartbook — an emerging category in between smartphone and netbook — though running Windows 7 would seem to disqualify it. Is that just marketing semantics, though? And does it matter? We kind of want it either way. We'll see if it's still just as desirable when Nokia announces pricing and release dates next week.

2009-08-21T17:53:00.004+05:30

MISSING

My little cute mouse is missing . . . I suppose it is moving across all your cubicles.
Height: 3 inches
Length: abt 10 inches
Complexion: Dark brown

Please return it to me before my B'day

Regards,

Vignesh a.k.a Ganesh

Happy Vinayaka Chavithi

Picasa Web Albums Adds Collaboration

2009-08-21T10:23:00.001+05:30

Picasa Web Albums Adds Collaboration:

Till today we can only share our photos to let our friends view them. Now Picasa added a new feature collaborate to allows our frinds also add photos to our albums. Sounds good right :)

Collaborating on an album is easy:

To make an album collaborative, sign in to Picasa Web Albums and add contributors. Just click the 'Share' button, add contributors, and leave the 'Let people I share with contribute photos' checkbox selected
You can also manage access for contributors you've added to the 'Shared with' list by toggling the 'plus' icon next to their name — when the plus icon is green they can add photos.

To contribute once you've been invited to collaborate on an album, just log into Picasa Web Albums with your Google account and visit the album you've been invited to join. You'll see an Add photos button you can hit to upload your own pics to the album.

It seems like a nice little feature, and definitely something we'd like to see from more photo sharing apps (we're looking at you, Flickr).

Collaborate on Picasa Web Albums [Google Photos Blog]

Microsoft DreamSpark is a pleasure to students

2009-08-20T18:41:00.000+05:30

A Student’s Guide to Microsoft DreamSpark: "

One of the benefits of being a college student is that you get discounts on lot of stuff especially computer software.

Almost every software vendor offers educational discounts but Microsoft took that idea to the extreme when they introduced the DreamSpark program that allows students worldwide to download certain Microsoft tools for free.

Am I eligible for the DreamSpark program?

If you are attending an accredited high school or college in any of these 124 countries, you are eligible for the DreamSpark program.

How do I enroll in the DreamSpark program?

High School students must obtain an access key for DreamSpark through their school administer, who in turn will receive the keys when they first register the high school with DreamSpark.

If your high school is not registered with DreamSpark, the school administrator can fax copies of the accreditation certificate to Microsoft and, after verification, Microsoft will send your school a set of Access Keys for distribution among the enrolled students.

The DreamSpark program is open to home schooled students as well but in this case, you parents must sign up through the same program that high school administrators sign up with.

You can also use DreamSpark if you obtain an ISIC card to prove that you are a student.

College and University students have it slightly easier. Just select your country followed by the name of your college and verify your credentials using the email address that has been assigned to you by the institute.

Most colleges are listed directly on DreamSpark, which will make your signup very easy. If you college is not listed, check the Options page which tells you who to contact about registration for your country.

What software programs do I get with DreamSpark?

Once you join the DreamSpark program, you will have to option to download the following Microsoft software tools for free :

Expression Studio 3

Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition

Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition

SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition

.. and more - see full list.

Additionally, DreamSpark also offers free ebooks, up to 22 hours of free e-learning courses on Microsoft technologies and 1 free Microsoft certification exam.

Will Microsoft ship the software DVDs?

Unlike MSDN or TechNet, Microsoft won’t ship you DVDs but you can download the software installers from the DreamSpark website itself. If you are located in India, you can also walk into your nearest Aptech or NIIT center and request the software on a DVD.

Ok, but isn’t there a catch?

Microsoft licenses the software to you for educational use. This means that you can use the software without restriction for school assignments or personal projects. If you write or design something that you wish to sell, however, you need to purchase a standard licensed copy of the Microsoft software before you sell your product.

Is the software like a trial that will expire when I graduate?

No! The software from DreamSpark is the full version, and according to Microsoft, “You may continue to use the Software you obtained prior to termination of your student status subject to the terms of this license.”

This is taken from the license agreement that you accept before you download the software, so you can be sure that any software that you download via DreamSpark will be free for personal and non-commercial use forever.

When you graduate, however, your DreamSpark membership will terminate so you won’t have access to new software release but the software that you may have already downloaded will continue to work.

Thanks to Amit who shared this info.

ControlPad Turns Your Number Pad into an Application Launcher

2009-08-18T12:41:00.000+05:30

ControlPad Turns Your Number Pad into an Application Launcher"

ControlPad is a lightweight application launcher that uses the number pad on your keyboard as a quick launcher for applications and system commands.

Once you've downloaded the portable version or installed ControlPad you can access the quick launch dialogue box, as seen here, by pressing the * key on your number pad. The box pops up and you key in a string of numbers that have been linked to the effect you want—bonus points for anyone who guesses what we linked 2112 to in our test of the software.

Not so keen on using numbers to launch your applications? Not a problem—you can just as easily use words if you want. You can press and hold the * for longer than you would to just call up the launcher and it will enter into editing mode. Enter a new command and hit the / button on the number pad to associate it with a new launch code. You can also bulk add new launch codes by opening up the commands.ini file, and there are several examples in there to show you the syntax.

ControlPad is free, Windows only, and available as a portable application.

Download ControlPad (Windows only)

ClipChain

2009-08-16T21:07:00.001+05:30

ClipChain Copies Multiple Text Strings for Easy Pasting

Windows only: ClipChain allows you to copy many strings of text from different places in one document or from multiple applications to form a text chain which can be pasted where you need it to go.

ClipChain Clipboard Text Builder

Download ClipChain

Version: 0.1
Released: August 14, 2009
Creator: Dustin Luck

License: ClipChain is licensed under the GNU Public License. If you'd like to take a look at, download, or improve the source code, head over to GitHub.

What it does: Copies multiple text strings, with an optional separator, to be pasted as one longer string.

How It Works

It can get frustrating bouncing back and forth between windows to copy multiple pieces of text to get them all together in one place. ClipChain steps up to solve that problem (and does it by repurposing the loathed Caps Lock key). ClipChain is a portable application, no install necessary. Just click the download link above, copy the file to your hard drive (or USB drive), and launch it.

To get started making a chain, choose a separator character by pressing the Caps Lock key in combination with any of the following keys:

comma
dash
pipe
slash
tab
space
carriage return

There is no separator character by default, so if you don't choose one, all your text will be runtogetherlikethis when it's copied. The separator can be changed as often as you'd like while building the text chain—Caps Lock+Esc resets the separator to the default (nothing).

Once you've chosen your separator, use the Caps Lock+C shortcut to copy the currently selected text and Caps Lock+V to paste the current chain—as unformatted text. Once the chain has been pasted using Caps Lock+V, the chain is moved to the clipboard and reset. To paste the chain again, use the standard Ctrl+V shortcut. The chain can also be reset at any time by pressing Caps Lock+Backspace.

ClipChain is freeware, Windows only, and works wherever Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V do. Let's hear what you think of it in the comments. If you've got a bug to submit or a feature request, submit those via GitHub so they don't get lost.

Aanjaneyulu..Movie review

2009-08-16T20:09:00.001+05:30

Aanjaneyulu... adding one more flop to 09

Its very surprising that how can one choose to do such a film after a hit like KICK. Ravi Teja took a very poor step in selecting this movie.

Coming to the film.. Its a rotten story. There wont be any twists in the movie, you will be surely guessing the next scenes. A very very noob script.
I dont want to discuss the story here ;)

Ravi Teja did vey well in his role. u can say its a Ravi Teja mark movie.
The first half is really funny with some giggles.
Nayanatara is surely a drawback to this film. She looks damn worst, adding no glamour to movie, even in songs. (you may feel the co dancers are looking better to her).

The other big asset to this film is Bharhmi. He did played his role well. Defenitely the first half will be blown if Brahmi is not there.
Rest of the actors like Sonu Sood, Kota, and Nassar done OK. But these roles can be made much more interesting.

One final word I want to add is, the Directer is really a NOOB. He is not at all upto mark to do a film with a star like Ravi Teja. All the locations he has chosen in the film and the catching the scenes is really bad. he need to work on his basics first.

Tag: Better watch this film when it comes in DVD. No need to see this in theater.

Hello World !!

2009-08-16T19:41:00.000+05:30

Blogging... a word which is making rounds in my mind from several months...
It came to a shape today . . on a sloppy boring Sunday evening.

This blog will be a window to all my thoughts, ideas, opinions, and feelings.

I wish I can make much out of myself. :)