FIFA World cup 2010 - Fantasy League

And time for another Football World Cup 2010. Frankly after getting bored of overdose of cricket, I am looking forward to it and feeling the excitement now. First thing came to my mind was last FIFA world cup and how excited it was and we all friends were playing Fantasy football league, so it was more fun in that too.

So again this year thinking of playing fantasy league and as friends were checking out which one to join, initially we found all manager based/budget based leagues where we have select players and transfer etc etc and no one got time/knowledge for that stuff.

After taking help from google god, found atleast 5 fantasy league how we wanted just predicting the winner, I short listed to top 3. Nice to see variety in this too.

1. Official FIFA predictor game

Summary of rules: points will be awarded as percentile basis... obvious winners have less points so if u go out of way and predict other thing u get more points and there is joker for double point in each round...etc etc

check out all rules at

http://en.castrol.predictor.fifa.com/M/rules.mc?category=predictions

2. Super Sports Prediction

Summary of rules: This is simpler.. just predict the winner and get the points and with that predict the score line so get points on goals too. check out all rules at

http://fantasy.supersport.com/worldcupsuperscore/page/game_info.html

3. WCpool prediction game

Summary of rules: this is simplest... just points for correct prediction.. no other masala...

http://www.wcpool.com/rules.php

Let's see which one we decide and play... I am sure it will be fun. If you want to join the sub league email me. :)

World of Landline...

After long time sitting in the office and relatively non busy day made me think out of the box, Thinking why the hell my cordless phone look the same since last 10-15 years?

Reason behind thinking-

1. All other electronics I use changed drastically over period of 10-15 years. TV - from huge box to smart sleek LCD, Computer - my 1st comp was 100 MHz, 600 MB HDD, 124 MB RAM and now my phone got way better config, Radio player, Cassette player, cell phone, AC, etc etc. So the point is everything changed not my cordless phone. Its still the same.
2. Telecom industry is ever growing, why didn't they do anything with landlines.
3. Did they finish their evolution life cycle?
4. Or its just the politics by telecom players to sell cell phone and other new things and phase out old things? Now I have to think there is absolutely no need for me to have landline.

What they could have done

1. Provide additional feature in new cordless - take any cell phone OS as example.
2. My cordless phone system sucks. I can't figure out simple things from their menu. Saving and using address book is such pain.
3. Why cordless phone cost so much? Rs 2000 cell phone also have better features.

So why I am keeping my landline number?

1. It used to be price, for long talk it was cheaper but I think that gap is also over, point of fact I don't even know how much is the charge for landline phone call.
2. It's there since so long time, everyone got this number so just for that sack. (Although I never get any phone calls there)
3. Fax - till now cell phone cant take fax but there are alternatives like Fax to email etc and in few years fax system will phase out.
4. My net connection provider is landline phone company, but I think they provide without number too now so lets see.

So basically I can not find any reason to keep my landline number and time to say bye bye in near future unless they don't give something new. Or I have to accept the fact that it was old technology like floppy disc or cassette player and needed to phase out. R.I.P. LANDLINE PHONE.

Getting Bore of iPhone

Since last few days I feel I am totally bored of iPhone, everyone must be wondering am I crazy because who gets bored of iPhone? but let me explain.

These days only thing I use on my iPhone is for Calls, SMS, Twitter, Facebook, IM. That covers 95% of usage, otherwise rest 5% I use for other apps. Makes me wonder I am not giving justice to its ability.

I used be crazy abt my iPhone. I don't try different stuff on it anymore, don't get so much time. I don't use it for long time compare to few months back. I used it for 2 years and now I feel it will start giving me problems and time for a change will come soon.

Now that makes me wonder now whenever I take new phone, should I go for iPhone again? Unlike getting my this one cheap in US, I have to spend lots of money for new one now. I been to Alfa yesterday after long time and saw different models and compared price found 2-3 great models for my liking in almost half the price compare to new iPhone. I don't feel too keen to keep the same phone and my nature is also to try new things unless Apple comes out with something very different this year but I doubt that.

So let me list things I surely need in my new phone

• qwerty Keyboard - touch screen or physical
• Wifi, Edge/3G,
• Bigger screen
• Contacts, Calendar, notes sync (update: which works with Mac)
• Facebook, Twitter applications

Things I will be happy if can give all of above

• Touch Screen - using iPhone for 2 years cant work with cursor or I can give it a try too
• GPS(Maps)- I hope people start using it here
• Good Camera
• Evernote, Remote login, Sugersync, office and apps like those

So friends, please let me know your suggestions, which fits my above mentioned criteria.

Google wave - 1st impression

Today I got invite for Google wave in the morning and that reminded me of getting invite of Gmail in early 2004 :) and almost after a year this news inspired me to update my almost dead blog with another post. Anything for Google GOD :) I hope this will change the way people converse over net.

I started using Google Wave but realized I need users to test anything.. it was like just messaging and chatting with myself. So gave away 8 invites to facebook/twitter friends within 10 min. But they did not receive email that time (not up till right now when I am writing this blog). So had to wait untill I see anyone in my contact list.

Finally I saw couple of people online I did my testing...





My Definition : Google wave is advance group chat + offline chat (threaded email) function

Like:

• 1st look is like normal group chat but with lot more feature like edit and reply to any thing in on going conversation to make it better.
  
• Posting options - there are nice options like G+ where u can search and attach web result, image, video etc etc, attachment and gadget (youtube etc)
  
• Playback feature - like u can play timeline to see which message came and reply and edits and feel like actual conversation
• Reply to any message in between to avoid confusion due to multiple topic discussion
  
• Can really change the way people group chat and make plans. New idea and I really liked it.
  

Dislike:

• You can actually see what other person typing in real time (with irritating lag) including what he typed wrong and back spaced and retyped. Google should give option to disable it.
  
• Lack of embedded option but i think this is early beta version. They will include it soon.
  
• When more than 2 ppl in thread, things might get too confusing as anyone can edit anything and reply to any message in between so to track its difficult and confusing
• Long threaded conversation looks dirty when you see overall picture
  
• Little complicated for non techy person
• Everyone needs to understand what it is like chat or email then only useful
• Still needs to add lot more features (gadgets) like poll.
  

Final take : Great idea, I like it, but I don't know how public will adopt.

Topic is still open to discuss and I will keep adding points to this.

F1 - Visa process

Soooo True..... Something to think about (click to enlarge)
Source: Phdcomics

Steve Jobs keynote live from WWDC 2008

Hi Friends,

Just pasting few links which I found for WWDC live blogs.
I will keep updating this blog post if I find anything more and interesting.

• Engadget
• Gizmodo
• Techcrunch
• Macrumors
• Macworld
  
• Twitter
• Macmegsite
• Techztalk
  

I will keep on updating till the event starts.
Very excited.....

Split your Expenses

Sharing accomodations and expenses, is a way of living for most of the foreign students and legal workers from other countries in US. The trend is picking up in other countries as well. The worst part of staying in a group, is to maintain the bills and expenses. Usually each and everyone has turns to maintain bills and expenses. (Thanks to Microsoft Excel). The bills are given to the person who is handling the expenses and acts as the admin to maintain the same. The task is always hectic and being monetary many a times the admin comes into scrutiny for even small mistakes.

Now here is an automated Expense Management System Gyaati.com, which has been developed based on Web 2.0 concepts and open sourcing. The whole system is developed keeping in mind the needs of people who are sharing expenses aka accomodation but find it difficult to maintain and track the expenses. The system solely works on Social Networking (Or Can we term as Partner networking), where each and every user would register to the site and form a group (People who are sharing the expenses) in the same.

Any expenses by any one in the group, would be sent as a email notification to the other member of the group, for their approval. Once the Transaction is approved, the monetary transfer would be performed in person by the group members. Site provides the group members with tracking, based on approved, approval pending. And ofcourse a tab to Create aka logging in the expenses. One person, can be a part of many groups (One for accomodation sharing, One for Car pooling, one for Weekend Outings etc etc.). The expense sheets and data would be available only for the members of the group. Atmost care has been taken for even transaction types. Like equal splitting or different expense split among members. The second one usually comes in Hindu community when some members of the group have Non Vegeterian and some not.(Usual Problem I face :)) ). The other feature includes leaving messages for partners. Remember the stickies on the walls.

Source: Watblog

UPDATE : Recently I came across better and more sophisticated way of doing same thing on Bill Monk. Check out various options. I am sure you are going to love that site.

End of JPEG??????

If reports are to be believed, global software behemoth Microsoft is to submit a new photo format to a standards organisation that could signal the end of the much loved JPEG format. The format that has been proposed by Microsoft. The format that has been propsed by Microsoft is called HD Photo, previously called Windows Media Photo and offers high quality images with better compression.

The JPEG format has been around for almost 15 years now. Modifications have been made to the format to keep it updated with the changing times.

Continue reading…

Finally Philly Wi-Fi Network Goes Live

After being selected to power Philadelphia's metropolitan Wi-Fi network some 15 months ago, EarthLink on Thursday made the first steps towards offering service by announcing it would allow for free access in the 15-square mile proof of concept area through January 21.

The area extends from the Schuylkill River to the west to the Delaware River to the east, and Center City and Old City to the south and Montgomery Avenue and the Kensington areas to the north. Speeds of up to 1 Mbps would be available.

Wireless-enabled laptops and desktops in the proof of concept area should be able to detect and connect to the wireless network "FeatherByEarthLink." Some customers could be eligible for a Wi-Fi modem, which would increase signal strength.

After the free period, "free access zones" would still exist in several areas, including Norris Square, Olney, Love Park and the Historic District. Those wishing to access the network outside of those areas will have to sign up for an account which runs $21.95 USD per month, the company said. The network offers download speeds up to 1 megabit per second.

"Our goal is clear: build a state-of-the-art wireless network across Philadelphia's 135 square miles," EarthLink's municipal networks head Donald Berryman said. "A key to doing this is gathering valuable feedback and insights from users of the network as construction continues."

Source : betanews.; localtechwire

Optical illusion : Rainbow and waterfall

This optical illusion relies on a principle called "Chromatic Adaptation".

An object may be viewed under various conditions. For example, it may be illuminated by the sunlight, the light of a fire, or a harsh electric light. In all of these situations, the visual system indicates that the object has the same color: an apple always appears red, whether viewed at night or during the day. This feature of the visual system is called chromatic adaptation.

Have you ever entered a movie theater on a sunny afternoon? The room probably appeared completely dark but as your visual system adjusted to the reduced level of light you were able to see better after a few moments.

This "adaptation mechanism" allows our eyes to recover from an oversensitivity to a particular stimuli. "Chromatic adaptation" occurs when our eyes adjust to certain color stimuli. Chromatic adaptation is one of the more easily fooled aspects of vision, and is prone to some of the most spectacular optical illusions.

Original Rainbow and Waterfall Picture

Funny Animation - very creative

Insane Ski gliding

Website to watch : bug me not - Goowy

You're browsing the web and you click a link to an article on a site (let's say nytimes.com) but instead of getting the article you get a screen asking you to login or register. Infuriated at the idea of pointlessly registering for yet another site you turn to your good buddy bugmenot.com
I am sure you must be tired and came across many times like that where you have just register to get excess. Just visit www.bugmenot.com you will find login for most of the sites.
Bypass compulsory registration and save your time and annoying spam in your mailbox.

Another one I found something different style of email - a virtual desktop. Cool one. Check out www.goowy.com. it gives you everything you need in a fresh, simple package, including an instant messenger that lets you chat with your buddies from any network, powerful e-mail, contacts & calendar, customized news, rss, minis, file storage, sharing & finally some fun games when you just want to relax.
I feel its too cool. I guess google should look at that side and learn something or just buy that site or technology.

Enjoy those two sites. Enjoy. leave a comment about both.

The worst day of my life

A little guy is sitting at the bar just staring at his drink for half an hour when this big trouble-making truck driver steps next to him, grabs his drink and gulps it down in one swig. The poor little guy starts crying.

"Come on man, I was just giving you a hard time," says the truck driver. "I'll buy you another drink. I just can't stand to see a man crying."

This is the worst day of my life," says the little guy between sobs. "I can't do anything right. I overslept and was late to an important meeting, so my boss fired me. When I went to the parking lot, I found my car was stolen and I have no insurance. I grabbed a cab home but after the cab left, I discovered my wallet was still in the cab. At home I found my wife in bed with the gardener. So I came to this bar trying to work up the courage to put an end to my life. And then you show up and drink the damn poison."

New impressive Indian Ads

I was just searching for new indian ads as I am always a big fan of those ads. Just found some cool ones from company webchatney. so listing them. I am sure you will love it.

MakeMyTrip - Chidiya Udi
Ah, childhood. Little bratty babies playing cute games and making everything fly. Circa 2005...wishful thinking no more.
Click to find out how everyone can fly


MakeMyTrip - Chalo Lanka
Hanuman being the faithful sidekick to ram arrives to inform him of the capture of his beloved. Hold on though..that doesn’t look like Sita at all!
Click to find out what is in his heart

MakeMyTrip - Moving Train
Empty trains and upset dacoits. What could have reversed the law of land, we wonder! Could those innumerable planes dotting the skies have anything to do with it? Yes, it's likely. The Moving Train, is the latest viral for MakeMyTrip.com to have emerged from within the ranks of Webchutney is both inspired and dedicated to the most cult Indian tale of recent times.
Click to find out gabbars new problem

Microsoft Outlook - Don't be udas
The flash video starts with a Pankaj Udaas cartoon singing "Bade dino ke baad.." And he keep's repeasting the same line till someone from the audience asks.. "Bade dino ke baad kya??" .. Then he says.. "kya?" and slowly whispers "Chitthi Aayi hai" and start playing his harmonium wildly!
Click to find out Don't be udas campaign by microsoft

Some other Old ones just listing youtube links for them
Peugeot
Happy Dent Mint Ad
Coca-cola- baal ki dukan
Shampoo Ad
Coca-cola-Panch
Airtel
Dairy Milk
Coca-cola - Aamir Khan - yara da tashan

As of now just listing these. If you know some other cool and funny ad mail me or leave a link in a comment i will list it on my blog.

Enjoy....

Source : webchatney, Youtube

Convert any file format to almost any other format

Forget about all those "Save As" feature (in Microsoft word/Google's Writely/Office 2007 etc..
A simple solution is handy.

Zamzar - a web-based file conversion application handles almost all sorts of file conversions.
For e.g.
Image conversion - bmp to jpeg/gif/tiff/ps and vice versa
Music formats - ac3 to aac/au/mp3/m4a/ogg/wav and vice versa
Video formats - avi to wav/mp3/gif/mpg and more..and of course vice versa
Document formats - doc to png/html/pdf/ps/txt and more..and more.

How does Zamzar works?

All you need to do is:

1. Upload the file
2. Select the conversion format,
   
3. and Enter your email id

The only issue with Zamzar is it's limitation on upload size - i.e. only 100MBs size is allowed, but I hope they will look into this in future.
Overall, a damn cool application

Source : Zamzar, Ashish Sinha Blog

Tired of spam in your mail box?

Maybe you want to sign up for a site which requires that you provide an e-mail address to send a validation e-mail to. And maybe you don't want to give up your real e-mail address and end up on a bunch of spam lists.

there is a tendency among web sites to ask for your e-mail in order to track you down somehow or keep statistics of their own. For example, want to download something? give us your e-mail! This doesn't seem so bad at first but wait a minute! Giving away your address lets them know where they can reach you. And unfortunately a great deal of them takes advantage of that. For starters they decide to subscribe you to their mailing list, sending your their daily or weekly newsletter. Others sell your address to marketing firms which in turn use it to promote their customers' products.

In the end you end up with a dozen or so e-mails a day in your Inbox that you don't care and never asked for. What can you do?

I came across two website which can help you and escape from such situation.

1. www.dodgeit.com This website gives you every email adress without saying you it is used by someone. When you are asked for your e-mail, give a random abc@dodgeit.com. No registration required! After that, visit dodgeit.com and check your e-mail (still without any registration or password). you just have to search it for abc or your expected email content.
2. www.10minutemail.com you will be given a temporary e-mail address. Any e-mails sent to that address will show up automatically on the web page. You can read them, click on links, and even reply to them. The e-mail address will expire after 10 minutes.

So difference between two sites will be

• Dodgeit will give u email ID with email ID of your choice and will be there on the server for 7 days and by searching anyone can see the information in the mail
• 10minutemail gives you a unique email ID but it will be deleted in 10 minutes.
  

So basically you will use this email IDs when you just require once to register with some site once and just click on the link to verify and to avoid spam in the future.

Enjoy. Happy Spam free mail now on.

Update : Other email sites I like from normal Yahoo or Gmail

Goowy
it gives you everything you need in a fresh, simple package, including an instant messenger that lets you chat with your buddies from any network, powerful e-mail, contacts & calendar, customized news, rss, minis, file storage, sharing & finally some fun games when you just want to relax.

Gabmail
Send video mail in 3 clicks. Worth checking out. no need of registration and very easy to use tool.

Pookmail
Pookmail is somewhat similar to dodgeit. if you are bored or want some advance option you can use pookmail

Tempmail
Another brother of that catagory temp mail.

Mailinator
Another option to avoide spam

Twenty20 - India v.s South Africa - FULL MATCH

Finally India won something
check out full match here

Enjoy. and hope for the best for india's cricketing future.

Statue attack sparks Hindu riots in Mumbai

Thousands of low-caste Hindus attacked police, vehicles and shut shops in India's financial hub Mumbai on Thursday to protest against the desecration of a statue of their leader and founder of the constitution.

Violence also flared in several towns across the western state of Maharashtra, where protesters burnt buses and threw stones at passing traffic, injuring dozens of people.

Protesters said they were angry that a statue of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a low-caste Hindu who authored India's democratic constitution that prohibits caste-based discrimination, had been damaged on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh state.

"We want police to arrest those who broke Baba Saheb's (Ambedkar's) statue. Otherwise, we will burn Maharashtra," a man shouted at reporters before being dragged away by police in Mumbai. Ambedkar was born in Maharashtra and Mumbai is the capital.

"There are reports of some sporadic incidents. However, things are under control," said Arup Pattnaik, Mumbai police joint commissioner.

But huge groups carrying posters and banners were seen closing shops and clashing with police in several areas of the city.

Witnesses said police used batons and fired tear gas shells to disperse unruly mobs in the city's Worli, Bandra and Chembur neighbourhoods. Police denied the reports but added "several" people had been arrested. Curfews were imposed in some towns.

More

Source : Reuters

Live burning train video

Online Indian News TV : IBN 7

Other Link to news : Rediff, Hindu, Hidustan Times, NDTV
Images : Rediff

Apple Mac Tablet PC and other products in Mid 2007

Apple researchers have built a full working prototype of a Mac tablet PC and three Companies in Taiwan are now costing a product for a potential launch in mid 2007.

Sources in Taiwan have said that the focus has been more on the home and the education environment than the enterprise marketplace. Several months ago It was told that Apple was exploring a neat new device that is basically a touch screen that links to various source devices including a brand new media centre that Apple is planning to launch next year.

The Mac tablet has been designed to handle third party applications such as home automation software that will allow users to control lighting, audio, entertainment devices and security feeds. It also acts as a full blown PC has wireless linking for a new generation of Wireless Hi Fi speakers that are currently being tested by Apple.

One set of speakers which are similar in size to the small Bose speakers have been developed by an Australian Company.

The new MAC tablet has Intel processors as well as a docking station that allows the device to link to screens with HDMI input. The docking station also has additional memo0ry capability so that users can stream content to either the tablet PC or the docking station or directly to a media centre if one is being used.

During the past year Apple has lodged several touch screen patents. They have also lodged patents for wireless devices. However three patents according to sources have been lodged by third part Companies who are licensing technology to Apple.

Quanta and Hon Hai Precision Industry are Taiwanese Companies that make notebooks and other devices for Apple. Both have signed confidentiality agreements with Apple for the Tablet Mac.

Source : SmartHouse, Engadget