Author Archive
Saturday, July 3rd, 2010
Building a media center with Ubuntu + XBMC + Zotac
If you want to build a Media Center PC to play your movies, music and photos on a high definition TV. Here is a simple way to build so. Step 1 First get the tiny Zotac Media Center PC. Step 2 Install Ubuntu, which is very easy just download from Ubuntu.com and follow the simple […]
8 Comments » - Posted in Gadgets and Deals,Linux by Prakash
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
Graphical Network Monitoring tool
If you want to figure out where all your bandwidth is getting used, without bothering with Networking, protocols and IP addresses try Etherape. Etherape provides an easy to understand graph of all your network traffic in real time. This is how it works. It shows all your IPs/computers on your network. The more the traffic […]
No Comments » - Posted in Linux by Prakash
Monday, June 28th, 2010
Apples iPad Profit margin: 52 percent
To all the people rushing to buy an iPad, you should know that Apple makes as much as 52% profit margin on the iPad. The devil is in the details. BOM (Bill of Material) for iPad. 16GB iPad with WiFI costs US$270 which retails for $499. The margins go up further if you add a […]
No Comments » - Posted in Gadgets and Deals by Prakash
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
Laptop/Camera bag ideas
I have used over a dozen bags from LowePro, Case Logic, Samsonite, Belkin, Hush Puppies to name a few known brands. I have also evaluated Targus, Swiss Gear and some other brands in detail. I have founds that a few are well designed to carry laptops while others are well designed as professional camera bags. […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Gadgets and Deals,Photography by Prakash
Monday, May 17th, 2010
Open CourseWare
For a while now, many of the leading institutes of the world have released all their courseware under and open license. Which means anyone can download them and use them. OpenCourseWare Consortium has a list of all courseware and institutes that are participating. Some of the well known institutes: IIM Bangalore MIT UC Berkeley And […]
No Comments » - Posted in General by Prakash
Friday, May 14th, 2010
Open Source is winning in mobile phones
Not sure, how many people already know or realise that most of the cellphones sold today are based on Open Source. Android is the fastest growing Operating System for phones is based on Linux. Nokia’s N900 platform runs Linux too. Palm’s (now acquired by HP) WebOS is based on Linux too. Symbian the most popular […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Linux by Prakash
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
Buffalo Technology embraces opensource firmware
Buffalo Technology which makes good WiFi routers has decided to use open source firmware. Instead of their own firmware, they are going to be using DD-WRT instead. DD-WRT is open source and has host of features, which are normally not found in WiFi Routers. DD-WRT also has open firmware for many other routers too. Her […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Linux by Prakash
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
Canon 550D/Rebel T2i
Canon has released the 550D as an upgrade to 500D. It has inherited some of the features of their high end 7D while offering a cheaper alternative to 7D. Key features: 18 Megapixel! Will this megapixel race ever end? ISO 100-6400 (Expansion to 12800) , similar to 500D 1920X1080 Full HD Movie Recording SDHX compatible […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Photography by Prakash
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Banks users Ubuntu to prevent online frauds
McLaughlin, a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and CIO of CNL Bank is sending Ubuntu bootable live CD to its customesr, this disks will boot into Ubuntu, start Firefox and go straight to the banking website. He believes that desktop computers running Windows are highly vulnerable and this is the best option available. Read the […]
No Comments » - Posted in Linux by Prakash
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
India is No. 2 in mobile Internet usage
As per a recently published article, India in Number two globally right after US for using Internet via mobile phone. Number 1 mobile device globally for accessing internet is the iPhone followed by the iTouch, Number 3 is the android based Motorola Droid, Number 4 is HTC Dream (also runs Android). In India people are […]
2 Comments » - Posted in India by Prakash
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
Does Oracle mean it’s the end for MySQL?
I was quoted in this article: Prakash Advani of Canonical said, “It is unlikely that Oracle will be allowed to close down the open source version of MySQL. The open source community had submitted suggestions to the European Union commission that looked into the Oracle-Sun acquisition which specifically aimed at removing the possibility of such […]
No Comments » - Posted in In the News by Prakash
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Panasonic’s two new cameras: G2 and G10
Panasonic is expanding their micro-four third lines by introducing two new cameras. Both these: 12 Megapixel Support high-definition video 3″ LCD Screen 1:1 Aspect ratio for square photos Here is a comparison between the two: Features Lumix G2 Lumix GMC-G10 Video Mode Motion JPG + AVCHD (smaller file size) Motion JPG Interface First one to […]
No Comments » - Posted in Photography by Prakash
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
Possitive affirmations
What is Positive affirmations? Its a positive thought that you say/write/think. How do I create one? It has be present tense. It has to be positive. It has to be personal. It has to be specific. Why present tense? Because you want to start working on it right away, you want to send a message […]
1 Comment » - Posted in General by Prakash
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
Optimise your photos before you send them
People often send large photos via email. These file sizes are usually large, typically a few megabytes because they are taken from multi-megapixel camera. The more the megapixel, the larger the file size. I prefer to reduce the image size before I email or post on the web, these file sizes are small (couple of […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Photography by Prakash
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
Mozilla Thunderbird 3 rocks
I have been using Thunderbird 2 for more than 2 years now, I recently upgraded to Thunderbird 3 and found it very well designed. Here is what I liked: Has an attachment reminder, so if you write “please see the attached… ” and then forgot to attach, it reminds you. Neat! Tabbed emails. Used to […]
No Comments » - Posted in Linux by Prakash
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Linus Torvalds ditches iPhone for Android based Google Nexus
Linus Torvalds has purchased a Google Android based Nexus One cellphone. But I have to admit, the Nexus One is a winner. I wasn’t enthusiastic about buying a phone on the internet sight unseen, but the day it was reported that it finally had the pinch-to-zoom thing enabled, I decided to take the plunge. I’ve […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Linux by Prakash
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
New Plug Computer 3.0
After clocking 10,000 + Units of the Plug Computer, Marvell is releasing Plug Computer 3.0. For those who came in late, Plug is a small lower powered computer which can do those nightly downloads, uploads, data captures, image captures from web cams and more. What new? 2.0 GHz 1 Watt power consumption Gigabit Ethernet Wifi […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Gadgets and Deals by Prakash
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
India in 1835
LORD MACAULAY’S ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT, 2 FEBRUARY, 1835 I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not […]
6 Comments » - Posted in India by Prakash
Friday, February 19th, 2010
50 megapixel camera from Hasselblad
If your work required very high megapixel camera, this is for you. And yes it costs an arm and a leg – 25,000 dollars! Check out more. Hasselblad H3D II 50 Digital Camera 50MP
No Comments » - Posted in Photography by Prakash
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Oh Rats! They find explosives!
Fight global terrorism with Rats, the bomb squad is here! Rats, which many people dislike are being trained to find explosives. They are used to find Landmine’s and are saving lives. They are suitable for this, as they have a keen sense of smell. They are also being used to screen for diseases and are […]
