A bit of magic

4,6 and 0 keys on my Sony Ericsson K770i are not working. Typing smses is impossible. Tried to do without G,H,I,M,N,O and return key. No way.
My backup phone , the nokia 1100 "smartphone" fell a little too heavily and lost it's screen last month so I was left with only one option: get a new phone.

Meet HTC Magic A.K.A Google Ion. Packs a 528 Mhz Qualcomm processor, runs Android cupcake 1.5,and a capacitive touchscreen among other things.

Mid II: MC and SPM

woke up at 6 sharp. No alarm.
Opened my MC textbook and scanned thru a few topics and got ready. Reached college at 9:00, had breakfast and settled down in the library for a quick glance at the notes. MC exam went well.

Started for Chevalla at 12:30 for Friday prayers. Returned at about 2:00 so had no time for "studying" SPM. Wrote my name on the paper and left the exam hall. Next exam on monday. So got time for rest.

Mid II: Embedded Systems

Hakeem calls me at 7:00. He's bringing his Car today! Wow, never been to college in a car. I do some study, get dressed and wait. He arrives at 10:30 and we're off. Langar house traffic is thick as usual and the journey is smooth from their on. We reach Chevalla by about 11:20 and comtemplate on where to park the Car. Certainly somewhere where it won't get attention, among the trees perhaps. We enter the main gate and damn, all IT students are right there "studying" under the trees. We're in for some trouble, we know. We say hi and head to the canteen straight and do some more "study". Exam is at 14:oo, a full 2 hours to go.

Exam: embedded systems goes well, not all that difficult(not if you already have the questions). Bits arrive late we, finish em off and hurry to the car to avoid any "trouble". We take along Imran and another guy and are back in the city by 5:00.

Two exams tomorrow and no car ;-), wish I had one too.

my desktop

TranceUpdate

Sunlounger feat Zara – Lost(Dj Shah)



Forget the peace inside
You’ve given way to the gods of destruction
Full of desire
You feel afraid that there’s nothing left

Oh oh, oh no
Oh oh, oh no

The ocean is dry
Do you feel hollow?
Nowhere to hide
And nothing to swallow

And when you can’t recognize
Anything solid
Where do you turn?
When you can’t buy it?

What can you believe in now
With no love to follow?
Now that you have lost yourself
Oh, can anything help you now?

Just let your fears go
You might find your way back home
Let your fears go
You might find that you’re not lost

Just let your fears go
You might find your way back home
Let your fears go
You might find that you’re not lost

What did you learn?
What was it worth?
What did you yearn for?
Everything’s lost now

And not alone and not alone
And not alone and not alone
And not alone and not alone
And not alone and not alone

Just let your fears go
You might find your way back home
Let your fears go
You might find that you’re not lost

Just let your fears go
You might find your way back home
Let your fears go
You might find that you’re not lost



Awesome lyrics. Deserves it's place as the Tune of the year 2008 in ASOT 383.
"kick ass song of the year" one called it.

Internal Exam 2

Wow, it's morning already. finished my record book by 1 A.M and observation notes by around 2.30 A.M. Having nothing better to do, opened up cracked and cnet to kill time. Then I noticed a small twinging feeling in my left eye. Damn, a small yellow bump almost adjacent to the pupil. A little searching revealed it is a Pingecula. Harmless but treatment is a must.

So, the tradition of getting sick during exams still continues. Lab exam in a few hours but I don't think the one hour bus journey is wise considering the dust I will be exposed to. So much for my efforts ;-)

3D touch soon

As if the new touch screen technology was not enough, Nokia is now working on a 3D input technology which may redefine cell phone navigation- again! here


(Picture source: fonearena.com)

Rahman, you rock!

Seldom do we get to see legends in our city. I saw double oscar winner and musical genius A.R. Rahman today at the "Jai Ho" concert. The net proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund for providing assistance to flood victims.
Let me tell you upfront: It was a wonderful experience.

I went with my cousin and a couple of his friends. The venue, right behind the Shamshabad airport is too far for those using bikes and public transport(although that didn't deter hardcore fans in any way). Special buses were arranged, but it didn't seem enough. The four lane road was jam-packed with cars, and frankly I never expected such a rush. We made it to the venue at about 6:30.

The concert was already on, we could hear khalbali from RDB. We rushed to the gates only to be turned back by the guards. Cameras were not allowed. Not even snacks and water bottles. We put all our stuff in the car and went in. Ours were the Rs1000 passes which entitled us a plastic chair to sit. We grabbed several and stacked them one over the other for extra height.

Kunjum Nilavu the tamil hit was a treat. I don't recollect the exact sequence of songs but here are a few notable ones.

- Fiqrana from blue. The dude skipped one word but no one noticed I guess. And he sang it in telugu....

- Chaiya Chaiya the peoples favorite was a letdown. Bad remix and no Sukhwinder!

- Jashne Bahara from Jodha Akbar was sung in Telugu. wth! Anyway the music was great. Never liked Khwaja Khwaja but it sounded decent here.

- Slumdog chase theme was excellent. We all cheered. It was followed by ring ring ringa.

- Rashid ali "who came down from the UK for us" blew it. His "besura" Kabhi kabhi aditi was funny.

- Then the same telugu problem with Jiya Jale from Dil se. Damn, why not sing it in the original language?

- Lots of slow ones including one for our Late CM.

- Then some mememto presentation. Chief Minister Rosiah was there, President of Maldives with his wife and a few other dignitaries. A few handshakes and photo-ops later credits started rolling. We were puzzled. Was the show over or what?

Thankfully it resumed soon.

- The real gems were coming. Mustafa.... The crowds went crazy. Everyone was now standing and waving in unison.
pappu can't dance, Hamma and a few others sent the audience into a tizzy.



I am tired. Can't elaborate more. Rahman concluded with his trademark Vande Mataram and a short incoherant message about helping the flood relief victims. Done. We headed back to our Car. It took a good half an hour for us to clear the traffic upto RGIA. Sad we couldnt take our cams to the concert. Heel they even jammed our cell phone signals there(or is there no signal in Shamshabad?). Also, my phone let me down today. All pics turned out fuzzy and dark. A few good ones below







I'm tired. Need some sleep

Bourne was in Hyderabad!

Esquire Magazine(US edition) features an article on Matt Damon this month. Whats so special about that?
Well, it highlights all his philanthropic activities and focuses on his recent trip to... guess wat, Hyderabad!
I'd read in the news about it, some time ago. Matt Damon inaugurated a fresh water supply line in some slum in secunderabad area. Had I known about it earlier, I'd have had a chance of getting to see a hollywood celebrity. I always get news late :-(
The article is more like a blog entry. photos below.




Picture source: Esquire USA

We'll miss you, Bini

Sad day today. Asif called with the news. Bini jena, my schoolmate and friend committed suicide by taking sleeping pills. I stood der for a while frozen. She was my classmate for like 10 years and the news shook me to the core.
I immediately called others for confirmation.

What spooked me was that she did it on monday, two days ago and I was told today. Some of my friends knew and never informed me. Abhishek, nirosh, Rudra, Vaishnavi...they all knew.
Asif didn't know until an hour ago. Nor did Atir,Praveen, Nitin or Shiva. Absurd. That's indifference at it's peak.

Anyway, whatever Bini's problems were, suicide was not the solution at all. Poor gal. I knew she was going thru a lot but never expected such a drastic measure. Her orkut account is still open. Seeing all her photos stirred me up pretty bad...

(In picture: On Teacher's Day 2006: Bini, Standing second from right)

Alibaba and the 40 chinese thieves

My cousin is a geek. Has the latest gear be it laptops,mp3 players or phones. His latest phone is an HTC Hero which he got about a month ago. The new Nokia release, The N900 got him thinking. The much talked about internet functionality and the maemo interface got the better of his curiosity and he set out looking for a bargain pre-order(release in a few days I guess).
His usual sites include amazon, ebay etc but this time he stumbled upon www.alibaba.com, a wholesale B2B portal promising cheaper products. He got a few N900 links and noticed some had "chat with seller" buttons. He sent a
price query and got a stunning answer. $225 shipped! It sells for no less than $600 on ebay itself! A little more searching and he found a seller selling a quantity above 5 pieces for as low as $170. Something snapped. Something was wrong.



A little searching and he had it(on the alibaba forums itself). It was all farce. Scam chinese companies selling non-existant Nokias(and just about anything). The forums were all filled with tales of cheated customers. Some poor blokes had ordered dozens of phones only to get fake chinese copies of genuine phones. Worse, one ordered 128 phones and got a pair of nikes and a shitty chinese mp3 player. here


So new shoppers watch out. Before venturing into the big bad world of internet commerce, do your homework. Be wary of any deal that smells bad. You'll regret later if you don't. My Cousin's previous shopping experience saved him from losing thousands.

China has a reputation for fake stuff. Hell, they even sent fake relief medicines to the east, marked with "Made in India" to discredit us. That's china for you.

Exams cometh

The good days are now over. Exams begin by the end of this month.
2nd mids from 29 oct and mains from 16 november. I have to stay until 12th December. Sad, really.
Let's hope everything goes well.

This week in news

- Diwali today. Low profile affair compared to previous years for sure.

- India, China sparks to be settled with talks.

- Blue is a dud apparently. Music's awesome though.

- Commonwealth games in trouble. India wants to host the games it's way. "Slowly" that is.

- Champions League 20-20 is not one bit exciting. Not for me atleast.

- Mukesh Ambani follows 'austerity drive'. Cuts down his salary by 66%.

- Outages are now common. gmail, facebook, twitter... and now we're losing data too(sidekicks).

- Surat, first city in India to use GPS. Wait it's not here yet. Plans...

- Windows 7 releases soon. Microsoft is gaining momentum now. Xbox 360, Zune...

my first real video upload

Posted this video a coupla days ago and it's getting good feedback from friends.
Videos from our trips to cheruvu,checkdam and some great vids from school.
Check it out.

TranceUpdate

I knew I'd hit jackpot with Trance7 by Armada

Rain by clAud9(ColdHarbour rework) is freaking awesome!!!

Small Boats

“O God, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small”

Power is down and having nothing better to do I idly sit on my table making boats out of post-it notes. The little yellow boats are not very easy to make as the the delicate bends are too small for my clumsy fingers. I make about five. I make a small human shape jus for the heck of it.
Then I have an Idea. Take pictures of em' !

First Upload

This is my first 'real' video upload. Collection of several events, most are from my recent trip to Manuguru.
Best viewed in HD mode but requires a fast internet connection.

Running time: 6 mins 58 secs.

Featuring: high School road, Tank Bund, Independance Day, Cheruvu Trip, checkdam Trip etc



Videos by : Myself and Asif Ahmed.
Music: Shout,Cmon by Sagittaire(PvD remix)

CF to IDE converter

I know I can't afford an SSD for my computer. Not for a while.
In the meantime I thought I'd give this one a shot: A CF to 3.5 IDE converter. It was mentioned in a coupla tech sites but a full fledged expert review was nowhere to be found.




Found this Adaptor on ebay for $10. Since I don't have a credit card myself, I had my cousin order it for me.

Yet to find a CF card though(exhausted all my pocket money). I need a minimum of 4 Gb although 8 would be really good. Hopefully I'll get one by next month.

My Cameras

My fascination with cameras goes back to my childhood days. I used to haggle Dad to let me use his Yashica film camera. One day at a wedding he let my elder cousin use the camera and refused to let me take even a single shot. I was 12. Mom felt bad for me and within a coupla days bought me a new Kodak KB10 beginner camera. It cost around Rs1000 then. I was elated and spent hours playing with it. It had no features at all- no autofocus, no automatic rewinding, nothing at all. But I was more than content. All my memorable pictures from school upto inter are from this cam. I still keep it safe in my trunk as a sweet souvenir from childhood.

Then as time went on Digital cameras burst onto the scene. Sales surged in India only after 2004. Although I was aware of all the new cameras appearing in the market, I couldn't get my hands on one until late 2006! Dad just wouldn't hear about it. He was more than content with his old Yashica. I decided to get one myself and ordered a Benq DC1500, a discontinued camera from rediff shopping. A 1.3mp shooter with the smallest screen I'd ever seen, the photo quality was just about average and I used it for about a month before ordering Benq DC2300 a 2mp camera from the same online site. This camera proved to be a real gem. I already knew it had a CCD sensor(charge coupled device) instead of a CMOS sensor. The photo quality was top notch although quite a few people ridiculed it for the low MP count. The standard then was atleast 6mp. Most of photos on my orkut account are from this camera. Some even commented that it outdid cameras with much larger sensors.



Dad has caught on with the Digital wave now(at last!) and is now using dc2300 while I've moved on to a new camera- the Panasonic Lumix LZ8...

This is an old camera too. Launched in 2007 I think but is more than enough for me in terms of features. 8mp sensor, 5x optical zoom, full manual mode.


If I had the money what camera would I go for? Well, if I were rich I'd go for this: The best Point n shoot camera out there.

Trance 7 by Armada

Trance 7 compilation by Armada records is great.
Includes many of my favorites: Faces by Andy Moor and Ashley wallbridge, Iselilja, Poppiholla, Never fade away and many others.

I think this compilation is a must have for any trance addict worth his salt.

Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino. This guy is queer. Of course he's up there among the greatest Directors but man, why the extreme violence?
Ok I am not into his movies. Saw Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction and that's about it but Inglourious Basterds, his latest is the most sickening movie I've seen to date barring a few other psychotic ones like Irreversible, City of God by other even sinister Directors.

Review

The story is set around 1941 in Nazi occupied france. The first scene is pure torture. I sat on the edge of the seat the whole time. The tension is palpable. Definitely Tarantino. Then the movie moves on to ...well... the real QT material.

Enter the Inglorious Basterds, a feared group of american jewish soldiers whose only goal is to KILL NAZIs. Their style- Ambush Nazi soldiers, chop of the victims'
scalps, send one survivor home.

The most disturbing part however was the baseball bat scene. Eric Roth playing Donny "the bear jew" beats the brains(literally) out of a Nazi Soldier. I read on some forums that this scene was met with laughter and applause in some countries. Where I saw the movie(INOX Hyderabad), there were only gasps of shock. I must tell you I've seen a fair amount of violence in Indian films but this scene is so utterly realistic it made me cringe. There is one scene where Brad Pitt brutally tortures a lady by poking his finger in a fresh bullet wound in her leg. A couple of girls walked out after this scene.

The screenplay was a little too long for my taste. Sure the story had to develop that way but considering the not-very-impressive climax, I found it hardly engaging.
And what's with Brad's accent? Sounded worse than his pikey accent in 'Snatch'. Great performance by Christopher Waltz as the enigmatic but dangerous Nazi colonel
Lande. His expressions had me in splits sometimes. Shosanne played by Melanie Laurent is great. Watching her getting killed(Sorry for the spoiler) by a Nazi felt really bad.

The climax is spontaneous and is over before you know it. Susanne gets her revenge. Eric Roth and his friend have fun fragging Ze germans and wrap it up with
dynamite charges and blow everything including themselves to smithereens. Thats a bingo!

The only scenes that will stay with you for a while are the opening sequence(brilliant), the baseball bat scene(horrible) and the one where Shosanne gets killed(sad).

Despite the aforementioned quirks, the movie sort of grows on you. The violence seems justified considering the atrocites Nazis commited. The picture is great and an oscar nomination is imminent. Movies seldom make me think. Saw it yesterday I still can't take it off my mind.

Go watch it

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befunky

Found this great site for online photo editing from CNET webware, BeFunky

Effects include Ink outlines, b/w, pop art and some great ones like Grunge and oil painting. Howewer an account is required to get rid of the watermark.

Back in Hyderabad

Back in hyderabad after a rather long stay in Manuguru. Missed quite a lot of stuff. 35 pages of crave, some 20 articles on cracked, oddee and listverse among other
things. Orkut is pretty much dead(not a single scrap in 15 days!). Facebook, thankfully I had my mobile phone which kept me up to date. My daily routine was pretty much the same so no new tweets either.

I went to a few places with my friends like tummal cheruvu and the railway tracks nearby.
But my best experience this time was Sileru falls. Went with family. Repented later coz it was not a very good time to visit considering the rains and floods wreaking havoc all over the place. you never know what may happen.

Sileru waterfalls

Went to sileru yestday with family. Were unaware of the flash floods thruout AP and had fun soaking in the cascades. Mom and saba sat and watched.
Had dosas and snacks aftrward. Retrnd at 7.

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Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone