All about Everything

Home PC Media Center

2009-02-23T21:49:00.000-08:00

Home PC/Laptop Media Center

Shifted into our new house like a year back, I always wanted to have a media center set up with the hardware I have.

LG 42” LCD

XBOX 360 Premium

Sony 850W RMS Home theatre (DAV-DZ556KB)

Lenovo T60

Logitech Harmony 880

Microsoft MCR

I did a simple set up linking my T60 to show output on my LCD. There are a lot of opinions online on which option is better DVI vs Component v/s VGA. I was left with no choice as my T60 has a VGA output. A local AV splitter did the job of linking all the audio output (Tata Sky, T60 and XBOX) through the Sony HT. All was good as I was able to watch television, play Xbox and watch all media from my T60 on my LCD. My first problem was space, lots of movies, songs and pictures to be stored and obviously a regular 80-160 GB drive would fill up in days. My immediate option was an external Western Digital Drive, There are options but the one that fit my pocket and immediate space requirements was a 500 GB Essential. I am somehow not much comfortable with the trail software that comes with it so re-formatted the drive as NTFS. Now XBOX 360 users might have to read up as the XBOX 360 does not recognize NTFS and with FAT there is a 4 GB file size limit. I readily opted for NTFS as I was never going to play my movies, songs off my XBOX knowing of the overheating issues (ROD) with the box. For me the XBOX 360 is purely a gaming console. There I was with all my data backed up on my WD drive.

All went good for a few days until I faced another issue which was handling about 4 remote controls. With all the devices listed above I had shuffle between their remote controls to make sure I got control of the entire system. This is when I started looking for a universal remote control. My immediate choice was a Harmony remote from Logitech, yes they are expensive but in the end I guess worth it. I got a refurbished deal on Amazon for my Harmony 880, it’s good as new and works perfect. Hours after unpacking I had all my other remotes back in the drawer controlling all my devices using the 880. The Harmony remote worked perfect for me to control all my devices except for my Laptop. I had go up to my laptop every time I had to pause/play a movie etc.

Now this one got me big time the T60 has an inbuilt IRDA port for data transfer, after looking for a while I found IrDA Remote Control (IrRC). This worked good for me but was limited to Windows Media Player. I Prefer VLC over MP. With IrDA I realized the range for the inbuilt laptop IRDA slot was limited to a few feet, basically very low range. I had to look for something else. Buying a USB-IR dongle was one of the options but couldn’t find one with the local vendors. After a lot of searching my search term changed from IR Remote to Bluetooth remote.

I have a N73 which has Symbian V3. Remotud is a good tool which allows you to control a descent set of media players using your Symbian compatible remote control currently only supports Symbian V1 and V2 compatible devices, so I had to look for something else. I found a few other tools but all of them had some or the other issue. SallingClicker is another good choice if you plan to shell out some money, Trial worked good for me.

I shifted my search from a software to control media players to a software to manage media instead, assuming that such a tool would definitely have an option to set up a remote control. Two best free options available are XBMC (XBOX Media Center) and Media Portal there are other options like Boxee, GB-PVR etc. I shortlisted on Media Portal and XBMC both are free to use and work with Linux and Windows. XBMC also works with the original XBOX. There are quite a few comparison threads. I personally prefer Media Portal and stuck to it. Coming back to the earlier problem of controlling PC media players using my Harmony 880, Media portal supports configuration using Windows Media Center remote and the same can be added to the Harmony 880 profiles. This basically allows me to control the entire setup using a single remote control.

K750i Reviewed

2007-09-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

I have been using the K750i for almost 2 years now. My immediate opinion about the phone would be, this is still one of the best phones available in the market. I had read reviews from various sites before selecting the K750i, my next immediate choice was the Nokia 6630, but the K750i was a clear winner.

Features: You speak of a feature and its available in the K750i below are a few that caught my eye.
1. 2 MPX Camera with Flash.
2. MP3,MP4 player with equalizers.
3. Memory stick slot.
4. Blue tooth/Infrared.
5. Dedicated buttons for music player/camera.
6. More than 1 hour video clip recording.

Looks: SE phones were never about the looks, same is with the K750i. Its a plain candy bar shaped phone which comes in 2 colors black and silver. Nothing exceptional about the way the K750i looks.

Camera: This is something the K750i is best at. The 2 mpx camera is perfect for any kind of pictures. I have a Cannon Powershot 7mpx, no comparisons but the K750i camera stands firm on its place. Supports multiple modes like the still photo and the video mode, and multiple quality modes like the fine and superfine modes. Something exceptional to mention about the camera is the inbuilt LED flash which pretty much serves the purpose while taking pictures in the dark, though it has a limited range it definitely makes the difference. One more thing that justifies the K750i’s design is the camera cover, i used mobile phones before and spoilt a few lacking a camera cover. This is not the case with the K750i. To know what the K750i camera is capable of visit http://www.flickr.com/cameras/sonyericsson/k750i/

Music Player: One word to describe the K750i music player is "Awesome". Works perfect, custom setting with the equalizers is great add on. Mega bass works great for people who like bass for others you always have an option to turn it off.

Memory Card: K750i comes with an add on 64MB card which can be used with the provided memory slot. On first looks the memory stick slot cover looks fragile, I have turned and twisted it in all possible ways in these 2yrs and it is still intact. Data can be moved from and to the memory stick comfortably using the provided data cable. The memory card can be used with any computer operating on XP+ environments without installing any drivers which works great for people travel buffs.

Layout: The space available on the K750i body is used till the last bit to make it more usable. Dedicated buttons for music player can be used to pause and play music without unlocking the phone, while in music mode the up down button on the right hand side of the phone [which is used to zoom in out pictures while in camera mode] can be used to reduce and increase volume, holding down the up down button moves to the next track while playing MP3’s and moves to the next radio station while listening to FM. Dedicated photo button is a great add on as moving the camera shutter down activates it and one can take pictures without unlocking the phone. Keypad though looks delicate on first looks works perfect for a long time. "Joystick" i will come to it in the cons section. Camera shutter can become a pain at times while using the infrared as the phone moves a lot when on plain surface.

Sound reception: Sound reception is at par with other phones in the market, nothing bad or exceptional about it. But again while on call when turned to speaker, the volume is pretty low from what it performs while in Mp3 or Radio mode. I have not been able to find out why, but it does work that way. Not really a concern as we all know that speakers drain battery life and are used only when necessary.

Games/Utilities: Free utilities like messengers, browsers can be downloaded. K750i also has a remote function which can be used to control presentations or media player on a computer easily, further you can also use your K750i to control your computer desktop via phone through a few utilities available over the internet. All these utilities are jar files and can be easily downloaded and installed on the phone. Best places to find all the goodies are http://www.myk750.lasyk.net/ or http://www.getjar.com/software/Sony-Ericsson/K750

Cables and earphones: One thing to notice about the cables and the earphones is that all of them are pretty long in length, most of us find greater length useful but it becomes a hindrance especially with the earphones. Cables work fine and are pretty durable. The earphones could have been of better quality though. With quality i don’t mean the music quality, These earphones produce some great bass and music, but the cables are pretty low in quality and break off soon if used constantly, mine went bad in first 3 months. New sets are available at a cost of around 800-1200.

Add ons: Sony Ericsson site talks about add ons for the K750i and there are a few good ones like the add on flash which should be a great add on for photo buffs. Also the earphones that come with the W550 are a great combination with the K750i.

One more thing to consider is that there is a lot of help available for the K750i. There are user forums and sites which talk bout tweaking it. I have experimented a few myself, see my post on dismantaling a K750i

This was all good about the phone now the bad.

Joystick: The worst thing that could happen to a K750i is the joystick. No reasons explained no reasons found, but there have been too many complaints about the joystick, might be dirt, water, or regular use. But the joystick is guaranteed to fail on you in a couple of months of regular use. You can get the joystick replaced if under warranty or by paying a cost of around Rs 500 otherwise at any of the SE service centers. My joystick has gone bad for almost 4 months now, thanks to my adventures with my K750i i cant get it replaced, but that doesn’t kill the phone. I am still able to play music, videos, radio, skip songs, change channels, take pictures, videos, zoom pictures, delete pictures, view slide show, Use the blue tooth/infrared to send/receive files, select multiple files and manipulate them, do all the basic operations that a phone is supposed to do. All this with a handicapped phone without an operational joystick. So even if the phone joystick turns bad as did mine, the phone doesn’t die and can be used.

Battery Life: This has always been a point of concern in the SE mobile phones, and same is with the K750i, but a simple tweak can help you here, the K750i allows you to set the screen brightness and setting it on low reduces the drain. I have been able to play FM/MP3’s on 8-10% battery charge for more than an hour. But yes if you are constantly on the phone and talk for hours this would be a concern.

The video player is a bit crappy and skips frames if the Mp4 files are not of the said specs.

Conclusion: The phone is a definite worth for your money, best phone available if you are a street photographer, also a great option for music fans. The phone has all you can ask for from a mid ranged phone just pray that the joystick doesn’t go bad on you.

.Net Quick Look

2007-08-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

Take these as notes you come up with while reading books or over internet. I keep on updating this post.

.Net Framework
==============
->. IL - Intermediate language - MSIL
-> Code >> Compilation >> IL/MSIL
->. CLR - Common language runtime
Manages
-------
-> Garbage Collection
-> Memory Management
-> CAS - Code Access Security [Identity/Principal]
-> IL >> CLR + JIT >> Machine Code
-> Code Verification - Pointers point to the right location
- Correct parameters are passed to functions

->. CTS - Common Type Specification
-> Sepcifies common types for all languages
-> CLS - Defines specifications to be followed by any language to be a .Net
language

->. BCL - Base Code Library

->. Managed Code - Any code that is managed by the CLR.

->. Assembly - Logical unit of deployment in .Net
-> Assembly = Metadata + Manifest + Resources.
-> Metadata contains all the types, variables, properties, classes etc..
used in the assembly
-> Manifest holds list of all the files used by the assembly - Version No,
Security Identity etc.
-> Assemblies can be single/multifile assemblies.
-> Each file of a multipart assembly is called a managed module.
-> AL.exe is used to create multifile assemblies.

->. Types of Assemblies -
-> Private - Stored in the application directory.
-> Public - Stored in the Global Assembly Cache

->. Namespace - Locical grouping which helps seperate two classes with the same
name in an assembly.

->. ILDASM - Tool to view internals of an assembly.

->. Delay Signing - Delay signing is about securing an assembly, this allows you
to sign an assembly using only the public key with the developers not having
access to its private key and register it in the GAC and later sign the
assembly with the private key.

->. Garbage Collection: A feature of the CLR that releases unused objects from
the heap when there is shortage of memory.
-> Use the Finalize() method to release objects from memory manually, this
is called just before Garbage collection takes place, further call the GC.
Collect() method to perform Garbage Collection.
-> Garbage collection can be disabled by specifying GCConcurrent to false in
the config file

->. Assembly versioning in GAC: By default it will pick up the latest version.
-> You can also specify OldVersion and NewVersion attributes under the
BindingRedirect tag under the config file

ADO.NET
=======

->. Command Object
-> Non-Query: Used for DML statements and returns the No. of rows affected
-> Execute Reader: Returns a set of rows/Datareader
-> Execute Scalar: Returns the first field in the first row.
-> To execute a SP using ADO.Net: Add Command >> Set command text >> Set
command type >> Add params to the param collection >> Call NonQuery,Scalar
etc >> Set command for dataadaptar >> Call Fill.

->. Command Behaviour: Can be passed to a command so specify the behaviour of
the command eg, close connection after execute, get schema only.

->. DataSet
-> ReadXML: Read XML into dataset.
-> WriteXML: Write XML to disk.
-> GetXML: Get XML string.
-> HasChanges: Check if any changes have been made.
-> GetChanges: Get latest changes into a new dataset.
-> RejectChanges: Discard all changes.

->. A Datatable outside a dataset cannot exist in relationships

->. Dataview object sits on top of the datatable object, you can include data
from multiple tables in a dataview, modifications in dataview doesnt modify
data in a datatable.

->. Rowstate property shows state of a row Deleted/Not
-> Datarow.delete marks row for deletion
-> Datarow.remove delets the row from the dataset

->. Columns can be validated in a datatable by declaring a datatable with
events.
-> Datatable_ColumnChanging even can be used to validate data by checking
the proposed value
-> To check for entire row use the columns_changed or rowchanging.
-> You can set errors in the set ColumnError or RowError property
-> You can check if the Dataset or DataTable has errors by using HasErrors
property

->. Datarow.Select(,,)

->. DataRelation( ,,)

->. Command >> DataAdaptar >> Dataset
-> Table Mapping in datasets is used to specify matches for tables in the
database to the tables specified in the dataset
-> Columns Mapping is a similar concept for columns.

->. You can specify extra parameters in connection string like
-> pooling = T/F
-> MinPoolSize = 10, MaxPoolSize = 20
-> Connection lifetime =

->. Typed Dataset: Datasets derived from the base dataset class + has XSD [XML
Schema definition] of the rows and columns and allows to generate a new
dataset from it. Fields are reffered in typed datasets with Names and not
with indexes.

->. Locking is handled internally in .Net to handle it manually
-> Check the timestamp of the record on consecutive accesses.
-> Check for the actual value if matches in DB.

->. Dataset.Clone copies only structure, .Copy copies structure + Data

->. Connection pooling is enabled by default in ADO.Net, it creates a pool of
connections for the same connection string, calling connection.close returns
the connection object to the pool

->. Reflection: Accessing, interrogating and executing an assembly using its
Metadata.

->. Value Types
-> Stored on a stack
-> Holds actual value
-> Structures
-> Boxing [Val -> Ref]
-> Default in .Net
-> Option strict can be used to highlight Un/Boxing in .Net

->. Reference Types
-> Stored on a Heap
-> Holds pointer to a memory location
-> UnBoxing [Ref -> Val]

->. Exceptions
-> System Excepetions: .Net generated
-> Application Exceptions: Application generated.

->. Code Access Security: Feature of CLR to provide security over code access.
-> Code Access Permission: Access to print, access registry etc.
-> Identity Permission: Identity of the running code.
-> Role based permission: Identity of the user running the code.
Code Access security can be implemented in two ways
-> Declarative: Using attributes
-> Imperative: Using objects

->. Obfuscation is the process by which decompilation of an assembly can be
avoided [dotfuscator]

->. NGen -> Allows Jitting the code to generate Native code in cache, saves time
as the runtime will use Cache Image to run the application.

SQL
===
->. InnerJoin: Matching records from both the tables
->. LeftOuterJoin: Matching records from the left and all from right
->. RightOuterJoin: Matching records from the right and all from left

->. Indexes: Useful to increase performance on queries.
-> PK are indexed by default
-> Clustered: Reorders physical storage so only one per table.
-> NonClustered: Maintains logical structure so multiple per table.

Delete Truncate
-> Logs all deletes/Slow -> Doesnt log/Fast
-> Delete can have a criteria -> Truncate doesnt have a criteria
-> Can Trigger. -> Cannot Trigger.

->. Issues faced by locking if not implemented
-> Lost Updates: Updates are missed / Read Uncommitted
-> Non Repeatable Read -> Different reads, same time, different values
-> Dirty Reads
-> Phantom Reads -> You edit >> someone deletes >> you update.

->. Types of transaction levels
-> Read UnCommitted: I can read modifications by others that are not yet
committed
-> Read Committed: I cannot read modifications by others that are not yet
committed
-> Repeatable Read: I cannot read modifications by others that are not yet
committed, Other cannot modify data that i have read.
-> Snapshot: Data that i have read when i started will not change till i
finish.
-> Serializable: I cannot read modified/uncommitted data, No one can modify
data that i have read, Others cannot insert rows that will affect the data
that i have read.

->. Locks
-> Intent: Locks data for me as i might read that data in the sequence of
the transactions i perform.
-> Intent Shared [IS]: I will read some but not all the data so place
shared locks
-> Intent Exclusive [IX] : I will modify some but not all the data so
place exclusive locsk
-> Shared with Intent Exclusive [SIX]: I might read all but modify some of
the data so apply shared on all and exclusive on modified.
-> Shared: All can read data that i read but cannot modify it.
-> Update: Lock data that i am about to update, if i update convert it into
an exclusive lock else change it to a shared lock.
-> Exclusive: This data belongs to me, no reading or modifying allowed.
-> Schema: No changing schema
-> Bulk Update: No one can change anything in a table as i am doing a bulk
update.

->. UNION: Selects distict data from both the queries
->. UNIONALL: Selects all the data from both the queries.

->. Raise Error allows you to raise an error in an SP.

->. Triggers: Update >> Execute trigger instead of an update
-> After Triggers >> Execute after.

Remoting and Webservices
========================
Previously: One process multiple assembly
Now: One process multiple appdomains multiple assemblies

->.Application Domain:
-> Logical container allowing multiple assemblies to run within, providing
them isolation
-> Provides isolation features of Processes without the overhead of inter
process data transfer - Marshalling
-> Crashing of an applicaiton does not affect the execution of another.

AppDomain D = Appdomain.Createdomain("NewD")
D.ExecuteAssembly("A.exe")
D.ExecuteAssemblyByName("A")
AppDomain.Unload(d)

->. UDDI: Universal Description Discovery and Integration - online directory of
Web services

->. DISCO: Discovery, used to make a list of all the webservices on a server and
provide links for the same.

->. Webservices can access all the features of .Net by inheriting the Webservice
Base class

->. The <@ Webservice > attribute qualifies a class to be a webservice class

->. The attribute qualifies a method to be a web method

->. Running the WebService (.asmx) file will show the default WSDLHelpGenerator
file which allows you to test a web service.

->. The Reference.vb file is one of the most important file at the clients end,
this file contains all the methods as in the webservice at the server.

->. The Proxy class at the client end makes late bound calls to the service
using Invoke (Reflection)

->. you can add remove protocols by adding/removing tags in Machine/Web.Config
-> >> >> >>

->. For the WSDL to include complex class definitions include the SoapRPCMethod
attribute and add two instances of soap include attribute passing it the class
type.

->. is used to distinguish between two functions
in case of overloading

->. can be used to implement caching.

->. can be used to make a web
method oneway, where in the client doesnt expect a response from the server.
OneWay methods do not return values.

->. Shadow Copy - When a dll si copied to a different locaiton and then loaded
its called shadow copy

->. <@ Page Src=""> associates an aspx page with its code behind module

->. Page life cycle
-> Page Init
-> Page Load - IsPostback and all control events
-> Page Render
-> Page Unload - Close files and release objects

->. Resolve URL Method converts relative path to absolute path

->. Page_Error event allows you to trap and clear errors [Server.ClearError]

->. WebService Mistakes
->Using .Net Types to pass data
-> If you pass a dataset object how is a J2EE application supposed to konw
what is it
-> With datasets lot of data is passed to maintain the structure(Use classes
instead)
->Not taking advantage of .Net features
-> use caching with .net webservices webmethod results are stored on a
server as cache and can be used for same parameter tyhpes instead of
querying a db
-> You can also store application data cache for passing out data that
doesnt change very often HttpContext.Current.Cache.Item("")
-> use sessionstate persistance to
store user perferences HttpContext.Current.Session("")
-> Also can store clientside cookies Myservice.CookieContainer = New System.
Net.CookieContainer
-> One large request is better than several small requests
-> Request broker pattern: multiple small requests are clubbed into one large
request
-> Use webservices to pass business logic rather than data.

->. Make Async calls from webservice
-> Normally a webservice would call the invoke method
-> It also has a BeginInvoke call which places an AsyncRequest. BeginInvoke
returns immediately without waiting for WS to return
-> System.AsyncCallBack - acts like a Function pointer delegate
-> AsyncState -> Object to store unique info bout the call
-> Begin Invoke returns IAsyncResult Interface pointer this can be used to
track down your request

IAsyncResult
-> AsyncState -> Object with a unique value [correlation id]
-> AsyncWaitHandle -> Waithandle to block current threads execution
-> CompletedSynchronously -> Allows your to identify if operation is already
completed synchronously
-> IsCompleted- boolean Flag

AsyncWaitHandle can be used to wait for a threads completion
-> WaitOne - Wait for the calls result
-> WaitAny - Wait for any call to return [multiple call mode]
-> Wait All - Wait till all calls return

Threading
=========
->. Thread is the basic unit allocated processor time by the OS
->. At any given point of time there are 2 threads running Main Application and
GC
->. Dim TS as ThreadStart = New ThreadStart(Address Of)
Dim T as Thread = New Thread(TS)
->. Thread Priority: Lowest, Below Normal, Normal, Above Normal, Highest
->. Use Thread.CurrentThread to get the current running thread.
->. Use Thread.Sleep to pause a thread, to pause it infinitely use
T.Sleep(System.Threading.Timeout.Infinite)
->. Thread.Sleep happens immediately, while thread.suspend happens only when its
safe and the current operation is complete
->. In a multithread environment you can call Thread.Join to make sure that one
thread pauses its execution till the other one finishes its job.
->. Threads running in the background are called Deamon threads, set T.
IsBackground = True to make a thread deamon.
->. Use SyncLock/End SyncLock to synchronize threads.
->. Use ThreadState to know state of a thread [IsAlive, IsSuspended etc.]
->. Wait Handles are used to synchronize threads [WaitAll, WaitAny, WaitOne]
->. Mutex objects can be used to gain exclusive access over threads.
->. ReadWriter locks can also be used to gain exclusive access to thread only
while writing and then degrade back to nonexclusive while reading.

Http Protocol
=============
->. Http is a generic stateless object oriented protocol.
->. Http Transaction consists of 4 parts
-> Connection - This is a connection between the server and a client over
TCP port 80.
-> Request - Client sending a request message to the server.
-> Response - Server sending a response to the client.
-> Close - Closing of the connection by either both parties.
->. Request: A Request is a CRLF seperated message giving details of the request
-> Request contains details like the Request type [Simple/Full], Method [
Get/Post], Protocol Version, Uri, Request Header [Field:Value], Data.
->.

Use Cases
=========
->. Used during the analysis phase of a system design
->. Used to identify system functionality and seperate a system into Actors and
Use Cases
->. Actors are anything thats external to the system and interacts with the system,
Actors need to provide inputs and receive inputs from the system.
->. Use cases describe behaviour of the system when one of these actors provide
stimulus [event occurs, provide inputs] to the system. It describes the input
from and output to other actors.
->. There is a system boundary between the Actors and the Use cases.
->. There are several relationships within the system like the <> or
the <>
->. <> is more like a function call or a subroutine.
->. <> is extending the normal flow of the system to an alternative
extended flow

WBS
===
->. WBS is a process of defining the final and intermediate results of a
project and the relationships between them.
->. Allows to accomplish general requirements by splitting up tasks into smaller
ones and focusing work on them.
->. WBS is involved in the planning phase, it is necessary for the team to have
a thorough understanding of the project before starting this activity.
->. Steps for WBS
-> Identify primary requirement or objective.
-> Branch out primary requirement into related subactivities, these could be
products or activities which directly lead to the primary objective.
-> Break down activities in to finer and accurate elements, continue till
the last activity is fine and accurate enough to be completed.

WSS
===
Security, Users and Groups [SPRights, SPRoleType]
->. Users actions on a WSS site are controlled by the membership that s/he has.
-> Site groups specify what actions can be performed by a user on a site.
Every user is a member of atleast one site group. [Add/Mod/Del of rights
possible except for administrator and Guest site groups]
-> Administrator to a site group is specific to that site only, to perform
administrative tasks on IIS, Virtual servers etc user must be
administrator on the local server.
-> Cross site group are a group of users who are assigned to a site group on
any website in the site collection.
-> anonymous users are allowed to participate in surverys, access lists etc.
anynymously. All users in the domain can be granted anonymous access by
specifying "All Authenticated Users"
-> Per List permissions are used to fine down the permission levels to a
specific list. Users are automatically assigned to a guest site group
within a site.
-> Sub sites can either inherit permissions from the parent site or have its
own unique set of permissions.

Server and Site Architecture
============================
->. SQL Server Databases [SPContentDatabaseCollection, SPDatabase]
|
-> WebServers [SPWebServerCollection, SPWebServer]
|
-> Virtual Servers [SPVirtualServerCollection, SPVirtualServer]
|
-> Site Collections [SPSiteCollection, SPSite]
|
-> Top Level Sites [SPWebCollection]
|
-> Sub Sites [SPSite]
|
-> Sub Site [SPSite]
|
-> Lists [SPListCollection, SPList]
|
-> Fields [SPFieldCollection, SPField]
|
-> List Items [SPListItemCollection, SPListItem]

->. to create a cutom asp.net site accessing sharepoint thru object model,
create the the site at "http://Server_Name/_layouts/Web_Application_Name"
location.

->. You can build and store custom ASPX pages and Web applications in the
following directory, which supports the _layouts virtual directory:

Local_Drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\
Web Server Extensions\60\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS

Pages in this directory are accessible from all Web sites in the Windows
SharePoint Services deployment through a URL in the following form:
http://Server_Name/[sites/][Site_Name]/[SubSite_Name]/[...]/_layouts/
File_Name.aspx

->. Get the web context before accessing the site lists
Dim siteCollection As SPSite = SPControl.GetContextSite(Context)
Dim site As SPWeb = SPControl.GetContextWeb(Context)

Passed 70-536 Exam.

2007-01-01T04:35:00.000-08:00

What a day two good things in a row, got to know that i will be getting my Sennheiser HD212 in a week through a friend in the US, and cleared my first certification 70-536 .Net Framework 2.0 - Application Development Foundation with a good score of 982 off 1000 [At least i think its good :)]. 3 months of hardwork paid off finally.
I have a lot of notes collected by now for this exam, will be publishing them here soon.

Dismantle a K750i

2006-08-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

In my recent trip to Tel Bel [A place near Pune, rains all the way] i tried using my K750i, it worked fine then but in a few days the screen went complete white and the joystick stopped working, i thought the screen would get fixed when the moisture goes off in a few days, but it refused.

This is what i opted for then,
Referred to this great post by gbrooks3, he has actually did a complete post mortem of his K750i - Ripp off the housing, I didn't dare to go much further but i managed to seperate out the keypad switch and the display switch, and after serving the display with a bulb heat for a couple of hours it got fixed.
Just make sure you have the right tools handy before you start doing this, a screw driver set with T5 and T6 is a must, don't try using anything else.

Working

Heat Treatment

The Heat Treatment

Key pad

Fixing it back

T6 Set

T6

Visual Studio 2005 new certification series MCTS and MCPD

2006-03-30T23:31:00.000-08:00

MCSD, MCAD is what most of the microsoft developers have been looking forward to for quite some years now, being one i was planning to opt for MCAD, but a hit on MS site revealed a new picture, with the introduction of VS 2005, a new set of exams have popped in, the MCTS [Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist] and the MCPD [Microsoft Certified Professional Developer], though MS claims that MCSD and MCAD are going to be valid for years to come, i am not very much sure what the picture will be when these exams get out of the beta phase. Also there are upgrade exams available from MCSD to MCPD, so there is a definite short cut for current certification holders to hit the

MS has again come up with the one one one free try thingie, register for one and get another attempt free, the trick is that course material for these exams will not be available till May 2006 and the offer is valid till July 2006, and without any dumps available till then there is a less chance of lots of hits for this.

References:

here's my pick for 536 and 528

Visual Basic 2005 Programmer's Reference (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback) - by Rod Stephens
Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 Core Reference (Paperback) - by Dino Esposito
Programming Visual Basic 2005 (Paperback) - Jesse Liberty

Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS)
1. Technology Specialist: .NET Framework 2.0 Web Applications
  - Exam 70–536: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 - Application Development Foundation
  - Exam 70–528: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 - Web-Based Client Development
2. Technology Specialist: .NET Framework 2.0 Windows Applications
  - Exam 70–536: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 - Application Development Foundation
  - Exam 70–526: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 - Windows-Based Client Development
3. Technology Specialist: .NET Framework 2.0 Distributed Applications
  - Exam 70–536: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 - Application Development Foundation
  - Exam 70–529: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 - Distributed Application Development
4. Technology Specialist: SQL Server 2005
  Exam 70–431: TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - Implementation and Maintenance.
5. Technology Specialist: BizTalk Server 2006
  Exam 70–235: TS: Developing Business Process and Integration Solutions Using BizTalk Server 2006 (available early 2006)
Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD)
1. MCPD: Web Developer
  
  MCTS + Exam 70–547: PRO: Designing and Developing Web Applications by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework
2. MCPD: Windows Developer
  
  MCTS + Exam 70–548: PRO: Designing and Developing Windows Applications by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework
3. MCPD: Enterprise Developer
  
  MCTS + Exam 70–549: PRO: Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework

ASP.NET 2.0 Why Care?

2006-03-01T22:25:00.000-08:00

Recently i had been to the Microsoft Technology Roadshow, which covered two areas Mobility and Web Platform, I opted for the Web Platform sessions which talked more about ASP.NET 2.0 and Developing AJAX-style web applications with Atlas, here is my learning from the same.

ASP.NET 2.0 Why Care? - Janakiram MSV

This was an excellent session by Janakiram, using one example he gave breifing about quite a lot of new features introduced in asp.net 2.0.

Most of the developers have been complaining about less controls to play with in asp.net so with 2.0 they have introduced 50+ Controls.
One of the talked about feature is the ASP.Net 2.0 two way databinding, if you recollect the old visual basic days where a grid control used to allow updates to the database after changes to the data in the grid, a smiliar functionality is provided in 2.0 where in controls can be bound to data not only for displaying but also posting back the changed data to the base. This is also termed as updates to the database through "In-place" editing on the control.
With ASP.NET Web.Config controls the configuration of your website, before 2.0 web.config used to be configured using the visual studio editor as a xml file where in we used to add and remove xml tags to configure the website, but with ASP.NET 2.0 there is a new tab introduced in IIS where in all the configuration for your websites web.config can be specified using the IIS panel.
Having IIS installed was one of the prerequisites of developing ASP.NET websites, ASP.NET 2.0 comes with an inbuilt webserver, so there is a definite goodbye to PWS.
Membership API [Authentication and authorization]
The ASP.NET 2.0 provides easy ways out for Authentication and authorization, most of us require the two basic forms on any website the User Login and the User Registration forms, with the Membership API this functionality can be implemented with minimal code.
Portal Framework [Create webparts]
Anyone who has worked with Sharepoint knows the use of webparts, Webparts are the building blocks for an easy customizable web, Webparts can be somewhere compared to web user controls with more customization with UI, Menus and placing., ASP.NET 2.0 now has the Webparts Framework which allows creating webparts, communication between webparts.
Master Page
ASP.NET 2.0 allows you to define a Master Page [Master Template] which defines the basic layout of your website further changes in the Master pages are applied to overall site without any code change in the other pages, In classic ASP this was somehow achieved by using Includes, This is also termed as Visual Inheritance.
Personalization
If you have used Amazon.com, one of the features that the site provides is remembering you as a user and showing you your selections, more like the page you've created with all the items you have looked for, very cool personalization feature, ASP.NET 2.0 provies the Personalization API which allows you to do the same with minimal effort, this feature can be used to store user preferences offer different types of discounts on different products depending upon the users preferences.
Web search
If you have ever used the Google API, well a similar thing is available for MSN Search.
Caching in ASP.NET extends further with 2.0 to link caching with SQL server directly, more like data fetching from the server will be done only if data from the table changes else cached data will be flushed on the page.

ASP.NET 2.0 "ATLAS"
I Create a ASP.NET 2.0 page with a form submit, to post data to the server and make changes depending upon response to the same, how about all this without a round trip to the server, yeah thats what AJAX is all about Client - Server talk without round trip to the server, basically through Javascript and XML, and ATLAS makes working with AJAX simpler, using ATLAS with ASP.NET 2.0 you can make some very interactive Javascript enabled UI, ATLAS provides a set of Javascript libraries whcich can be used to perform client server talks without page refreshes/submits. Some very good examples were shown by Nikhil Kothari during his presentation, like connecting to a webservice and showing weather information for different cities without a single page refresh.
Well a few things to talk about ATLAS

Framework to implement client - server communication using AJAX without round trip to the server as a post.
Includes a set of client and server based controls
Webservices bridge to call from client side instead of server side
Wrapper on top of javascript
Inbuilt Atlas script manager for
1. Partial rendering
2. Triggers collection to specify which panel/control gets updated
Auto complete depending upon whats typed get the suggested word
Drag overlay extender -> simply drag and place panels anywhere on the page.
Javascript progress bar to show execution process instead of the web browser progress bar from the status bar.

References:

http://atlas.asp.net
http://nikhilk.net
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com
http://microsoft.com/seminar

Things I considered while buying a house

2006-02-21T20:29:00.000-08:00

For some buying a house is a once in a life time thing, some people end up buying a
couple of flats, some look it as an dream come true while for others its just
another investment, depending upon what your purpose is your search differs, your
needs differ and your budget differs. In either case buying a new property is not a
small thing, specially for the middle/upper middle class where people take up huge
loans and repay the amout for years and years. Recently i planed to buy a house, for
me there were various things in it, It was dream come true. It took me almost a
month to conclude on buying my SE K750i which was worth Rs.17800 [in Oct. 2005], i
had gone through various sites, thought about a various factors before buying my
cell phone, Comparatively buying a house is a much bigger decision and investment
inturn, there is quite a bit of planning required before buying a house.
I have been working for last 5 years in different companies, as my CTC increased
simultaneously increased my Tax cut, i had been very negligent on my tax planning
and used to end up paying huge amounts, after enquiring at a few places and talking
to friends I came to a conclusion that the best way to save tax through investments
is buying a house, and in my case it was a need of time. So there were no second
thoughts on buying a house, Now here i am suddenly out of my sleep and planning to
buy a house. I didnt knew at that time what i wanted, should it be a flat or a
rowhouse, didnt even knew the current rates in the locality, I was completely blank
about these things.

Its been almost 6 months now from that day and today i have booked my flat, coming
to this conclusion included lots of suggestions from friends and elders. Finally
after hunting for a descent flat for almost 6 months i booked a flat in a township
of 1200 flats. Now here is what i learnt in all these days.

There are a series of steps involved in deciding/booking a flat, if you follow then
in the right sequence, you already have answers to a lot of questions beforehand.

I assume that you also plan to buy the flat by taking a loan as i did, first
thing you should do is to check for the eligibility of loan against your current
salary, here your net income is considered to derive at a figure as loan
eligibility, the usual calculation is Your Gross Salary - [Your taxes + installments
towards other loans if any.], the eligibility from different banks differ as some
banks consider the fact that after you start paying your house loan installments
your tax liability will deduct and give you more eligibility, some banks also
consider yearly income that you get like some organizations dont reflect payment of
Medical expenses on the employees salary slip which increases the gross and inturn
your net take home, which means more eligibility. As far a your previous liabilities
are concerned if the number of installments left to pay is less than 12 they are not
considered while calculating your eligibility, but if they are more than 12 then it
reduces the eligibility to a considerable amount for eg., i was paying a 2 wheeler
loan while i was opting for a new house, the monthly installment was about Rs.1260
but it reduced my eligibility by about 1.5 to 2 lakhs.
Now that you know your home loan eligibility you can go ahead and decide what
you want, you need to have a clear picture of your purpose behind taking a house, if
its just for an investment ususally there is less thinking involved but if you plan
to shift in your new house immediately after buying it, there are quite a few things
to think about like
1. Your family strength.
2. Your preferences as to whether you want to go for a rowhouse or a flat.
3. Your constraints as to whether you want to go for a township or you are happy with a single building apartment.
While buying a flat there are two major things to consider, the locality and
the location, when i say the locality i mean, is it a residential area, are there
enough residential projects around, these things do matter considering the future
developement that is to take place in the locality, if its a planned residential
area, future developements in the surroundings happen keeping in mind the strength
of residential projects/flats in the area. with location of the site there is a
differnt set of things to consider about like
1. Distance to Nearest school, Shopping complex, Theatre, Market.
2. Distance between your office and house, you dont wanna end up travelling for hours every day to reach office.
3. Growth prospects in the area, this is one very important factor, coz if there
  is growth/developement in the area the per/sqft. rate in the areas hikes and, this
  helps if you plan to sell your flat in future.
  
  Here there is one thing to consider, in most developed areas i found the rates are
  almost double things just go way out of hands, but if you try to explore the areas
  surrounding the developed patch there is a good chance of finding a good deal and
  travelling 1 or 2 KM extra is better than spending crazy amounts buying a flat in a
  fully developed area.
Think about your possession requirements, Usually bookings for flats start way
before hand and you get possesion after almost 12 to 15 months from the day of
booking, but its a better deal to book a flat at its construction stage, for various
reasons
1. By the time you get possession of the flat the rates have almost doubled in the area.
2. If made an advance payment, which usually people do and is a better option,
  after loan dibursement, you get a specific percentage of the remaining amount as
  interest from the builder. This amount keeps on reducing with increasing
  construction stages of the building, but at the time of possession you get a descent
  amount which is helpful for payment of OTM [One time Maintenance] or Society charges.
Amenities play an important role for some while some dont mind skipping them, I
would classify Amenities as internal amenities and external [common amenities], more
concentration should be on the internal amenities as those are the ones you use
often, questions to ask are,
1. Does the builder provide solar water heating system?
2. Is false ceiling provided?
3. Does the builder provide an intercom system?
4. Are there some security systems installed?
5. Are sanitary fittings provided from a reputed company?
6. Is there an Aquagard provision in the kitchen?
7. Is there a MS Grill to the sliding windows?
while it depends from person to person how much weightage you wanna give to the
external amenities like Swimming pool, Gymnasium, Tennis court, Landscape garden
etc., these things increase the cost of the flat by a considerable amount in the
form of OTM [One time Maintenance], which you eventually end up paying more and
more. Also it depends upon how seriously has the builder taken these things, i have
seen projects where in a township of more than 1000 flats the swimming pool and the
landscape garden are way too small and just in for name sake.
We started with the Loan considerations lets end with the the same there are a
lot of things to consider while opting for the loan, the first thing to do is let
the banks know that you are interested in a house loan, in a few days you will find
various banks calling you with different offers, Bargain is the keyword, you always
get a better deal after you create competetion between these banks.
1. Keep a number of sets ready for all the documents that you require to submit in
  the banks as you will need to provide your documents to various documents to get a
  better deal.
2. Keep a check on factors like processing fees and pre-payment/ forclosure
  charges, they are very much negotiable.
3. With interest rates, i would suggest go for fluctuating rate of interest, even
  if the rate of interest increases in future, the one applicable for you doenst hike
  up equally it just increases by .25 or .50 which again differs from bank to bank.
4. Some banks do force you to take Insurance with the loan, remember that you have an option not to take it, use your option.
5. The loan given to you is usually 85% to 90% of the total of following factors
  [Rate*Area + Parking Charges + MSEB(Electricity Meter and installation) Chares] the
  components generally not included are OTM [One time Maintenance], Society formation
  charges and Stampduty + Registration charges. but you can always negotiate with the
  bank to get these included in your loan amount.
6. After getting an approval of 90 to 92% from the bank most of them opt for a
  personal loan to cover the rest as it some of it needs to be paid immediately, keep
  in mind that you can get both the loans on the same salary if you process documents
  for both the loans at the same time, talk you your angent and he should be in a
  position to get you out of it.

These were a few thigns that i considered while buying my house, i saw almost 30 to
40 sites and decided upon the flat i took, while doing your fincancial calculations
keep in mind to consider only regular income, if you are considering any income
which is not regular for paying the installments it might get you in a fix, Also
consider the budget that you will require to buy the furniture in your house and
plan your possession in such a way that by the time you get he possession of your
house you have cleared your personal loan + saved a handful amount.

Hope this article helps you in making a better decision for buying a house.

SuitCaseServers

2005-02-13T22:00:00.000-08:00

http://www.suitcaseservers.com/
Motherboard: ECS L7VMM2 VIA® KM266
Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2200+
Memory: 2x 512mb Micron pc2100
Video: Integrated ProSavage 8
Audio: Integrated AC97
Network: Integrated 10/100 and Intel ProMT 1000
RAID adapter: Highpoint 1820a 8-channel Sata
Hardrives: 1x 40gb Seagate Barracuda IDE and
4x 250gb Western Digital SATA
Power Supply: Aspire 400watt
Switches: 1x Netgear 16 port 10/100
1x SMC 5 port 1000mbit

all inside a suitcase..

South : Station

2005-02-06T22:14:00.000-08:00

South : Station

Wireless internet access has become a pervasive phenomenon in America’s cities today, and there are many reasons why that is a good thing. Almost anywhere you go, whether it is a small coffee shop, or a car dealership, or an airport, or even the middle of a sidewalk, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to find a wireless
signal, obtain an IP address, and start using the internet. less pros and more cons to this, read the complete article.

Source: http://www.slashdot.com

Creed - Scott = Alter Bridge

2004-11-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

Guitarist builds Alter Bridge regardless of Creed

The lead singer had a unique voice, songs like Faceless man and the rest wouldnt sound that good with someone elses voice.
but there is no less saying about Alter Bridge, they have some great music for us in future.

Gear Live: Enter The High Tech Lifestyle: SCOTTeVEST TEC Sport Coat and Hidden Cargo Pants Review

2004-10-31T22:18:00.000-08:00

Gear Live: Enter The High Tech Lifestyle: SCOTTeVEST TEC Sport Coat and Hidden Cargo Pants Review

Kite Aerial Photography by Scott Haefner

2004-09-09T02:32:00.000-07:00

Kite Aerial Photography

Kite Aerial Photography, the name says it all, its awesome.

Shuttle SB61G2

2004-09-07T22:29:00.000-07:00

Shuttle SB61G2

Small Form Factor PCs are popular in the gaming community because they offer a compact and portable PC without compromising on performance, which makes them perfect for a LAN party. People who are interested in building a home theatre system might find SFF PCs very useful, thanks to its sleek look and compact size.

Duke to Give Apple iPods to First-Year Students for Educational Use

2004-09-06T22:23:00.000-07:00

Give away iPods

Duke University will distribute Apple iPods to its incoming freshmen, as part of an initiative to encourage creative uses of technology in education and campus life.

Don't Expect Privacy on the Web

2004-09-01T06:35:00.000-07:00

Don't Expect Privacy on the Web

This being the Internet, the next logical step was to search for credit card numbers. Try this one, for "Visa 4366000000000000..4366999999999999", I have also tried finding contacts using phone numbers, it helps at times :)

Gmail As Storage Medium in Linux

2004-08-31T01:54:00.000-07:00

Gmail As Storage Medium in Linux

Using a self written program called GmailFS it allows one to store files using the 'normal' file operations such as; read, write, open, close, stat, symlink, link, unlink, truncate and rename.

The Search Engine Belt Buckle

2004-08-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

The Search Engine Belt Buckle

What a curious and fascinating waste of time and money!

Why is Internet Explorer unsafe?

2004-08-24T01:39:00.000-07:00

Why is Internet Explorer unsafe

Most of the people have shifted to Firefox, this article tells us why.

infoThela

2004-08-20T02:31:00.000-07:00

Wheels of hope bring Internet to villagers

The bicycle cart is the center of a project called "Infothela," or info-cart. It aims to use technology to improve education, health care and access to agricultural information in India's villages, where most of the country's 1.06 billion people live. Infothela all lie within a 50-mile wireless corridor created by the Institute of Technology and linked by high-rise Wi-Fi antennae and amplifiers along the highway.

Microsoft Asks Slashdot To Remove Readers Posts

2004-08-19T05:43:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Asks Slashdot To Remove Readers Posts

They have actually posted full text of the e-mail they got from Microsoft.

Some programs seem to stop working after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2

2004-08-17T04:24:00.000-07:00

Some programs seem to stop working after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2

After you install Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), some programs may seem not to work.WTF.

Online Replacements for Desktop Apps?

2004-08-13T05:11:00.000-07:00

an online UML diagrammer, an online Paintbrush app, online Post-It notes, an incredibly realistic
text-to-speech converter, and an online spreadsheet. What are other cool online desktop-app replacements?"

A Slice of Time and Space

2004-08-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

A Slice of Time and Space

Cohen and his colleagues have invented a way to turn digital video into an animated cartoon. They've also developed techniques to combine animation with a still picture, which is what allowed Cohen's daughter to 'play' in her painting.

WAP Is Dead?

2004-08-12T04:26:00.000-07:00

WAP Is Dead?

Mobile Data Association says that 1.11 billion WAP pages were viewed in the country in June,
what do you say?

Olympics' digital security unprecedented - Aug 10, 2004

2004-08-11T01:29:00.000-07:00

Olympics' digital security unprecedented - Aug 10, 2004

It gathers images and audio from an electronic web of over 1,000 high-resolution and infrared cameras, 12 patrol boats, 4,000 vehicles, nine helicopters, a sensor-laden blimp and four mobile command centers.

Missing manuals

2004-07-30T00:37:00.000-07:00

fine at times you prefer reading a book than a help screen, but i still prefer the help systems, where are you going to get the F1 functionality in a book, and definately you can bookmark a page if required what are they talking about here

Coolest IT ad ever?

2004-07-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

Linspire, Lindows Rock, you can guess whats it about :)

TV VTV-101 - Great Gizmo

2004-06-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

Great gizmo! Measuring 45.7 (W) x 49.4 (H) x 18.2 (D) mm and weighing 55g, comes with stereo earphones that act as an antenna. It runs on a built-in rechargeable 500mAh lithium-polymer battery for about an hour, most of the sites still called it a wrist-watch, we all know its basic use is changed from checking out time to watching television, it could have been anything Portable TV, Wrist Television or Wearable TV as the above one says, anyways great one, i would want one of these.

GNR + STP = Velvet Revolver

2004-06-10T02:16:00.000-07:00

Well we can also call it Rock + Alternative, band members from these two great bands GNR(Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum) and STP(Scott Weiland) combine to form Velvet Revolver, after reading a few articles found out that there have been lots of controversies to get the band where it is today, but then it paid them well and gave us good music, "Slither" one of the tracks is already in the top five on the rock charts.

Though most of the reviews said that its not like GNR neither like STP i think its got more of STP in it, might be because the Lead singer is from STP.

Bottom line Velvet Revolver is more inclined towards Alternative, Great music.

MSN Romance-> "Will you marry me"->FUCK NO!

2004-06-09T02:05:00.000-07:00

yes, i am talking about the ad that comes on MSN Messenger, what made creators of MSN Romace think the "Will you marry me?" label on MSN Messenger with some slutty image attract people to "MSN Romance",going to MSN Romance with the intentions of marrying someone...thats the last thing one would do, the ad would have been better for some porno site with some change in the label text :-).

Yuva

2004-06-08T00:12:00.000-07:00

Maniratnam does it again, after a long time i found a reason to go and watch a bollywood movie, Rehman gave his best again, if you are used to the usual crap of bollywood the family stuff, those huge sets, exceptionally crappy music then this movie is not for you. mob scene at the police station is amazing. The story lineup is more like some hollywood movie but it worked, very well presented, well a few songs were completely unnecessary.

With huge movies from both ends coming up like Day after tommorow, Hell boy etc.. this movie will definately make its place.

YAHOO - LAUNCHcast

2004-06-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

Yahoo 6.0 beta surprised everyone not only with its slick looks but also with addition of LAUNCHcast, using which we can listen to some great music online, though its partially free i think its more than what you can expect from your messenger, LAUNCHcast has a good classification of stations and i guess more important is the way it figures out your bandwidth and gives you the quality accordingly making sure that you dont get breaks.

One feature which i found really impressive is the create your own station option, which allows you to select your type of songs from a vast collection of genres/artists, this is a good option if you are at work place and do not have any of your MP3's from your collection around, which is not the case with me so i prefer listening to one of the offered channels, thats what i like about radio random songs, and that way you find some good music which is not a part of your collection.

Well as other online radio channels ads do keep coming and get buggy after some time but as we all know if there are no ads its no more free, you are allowed limited skips in the free version, but i prefer listening to whats queued, and if the music hurts you that bad to skip the song then you haven't selected the right station.

Nickelback - The Long Road

2004-06-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

I think these guys did a good job this time, well "How you reminded me" from their last album Silver side up got them on the billboard charts but the rest were just average songs, this time they have got a lot more good music with The Long Road, my fav from the list are
1.Someday
2.Shouldve listened
3.See you at the show
4.Saturday nights alright.[no its not the "all songs starting with "S" thing" :)]
Someday is the best from the list, their cover of Elton john - Saturday nights alright sounds more like a foo fighter song though.
Great music, much much better than their previous album.

NOKIA 2300

2004-06-01T23:58:00.000-07:00

Nokia 2300, Phone looks nice [the grey-silver model ONLY!!], but thats it, this a new release in the budget phone market, the only feature added in this model advanced to the older budget models is that you can listen to FM Radio using the phone, well nowadays you get hands free kit which offers this facility and they are nice and cheap, they why would one buy this phone spending extra 2 to 3 K, they have also cut down the feature of picture editor that used to be in the previous budget models, well overall i think the only plus point about this phone is the looks which kind of gets it a bit high in the range of other Nokia budget phones about the FM feature i can get it arranged on my Nokia 3310 too.
Posted by Hello

KBAlertz

2004-06-01T01:57:00.000-07:00

If you are a programmer working on Microsoft technologies, then KBAlertz is the right site for you, recently while googling i came across this site, it has almost all the articles published in MSDN, I know you can get them at Microsoft.com or from your installation of MSDN, well then here is what i like about this site, during my registration on this site it allowed me to choose the technologies i would be interested in getting KBAlertz for and i will be receiving thru mails if there are any new bug fixes, solutions for known problems or code snippets in the technologies that i selected, well its not always useful, but i think this helps you know the latest developements happening around in the technologies that you are working on, and if gets too spammy then like a few of them KBAlertz also provides the sweet option of Unsubscribing from their mailing list :)

Google ranks 8th

2004-06-01T01:29:00.000-07:00

Google 8th!! Surprising isn't it, google is the word that comes up when it comes to searching for almost anything in this world, i mean it can be anything from food to history to sofware. i would not be where i am in the programming world if google was not there, but i was really surprised to find Google come up 8th in the list if you search for Search Engines on google.

That was easy

2004-06-01T00:47:00.000-07:00

This is awesome, create a blog and keep posting, the choose your template part was amazing (people buy such templates online), kool then, i am in, i am gonna keep on posting all the kool shit that i find around. for now all i have to say is Blogger rules!!