Archive for 2007

Batti Bandh !

Participating in the Batti Bandh organized by Mumbai Unplugged. So here I go offline and off power for an hour.. Whoop...
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Posted by Unknown

Clear Bluetooth history - Windows XP

Recently I wanted to clear by Bluetooth Devices History on the Send To menu on my computer. With many files being sent to different devices and computers over a period of time, my Send To Bluetooth menu was quite cluttered with a long list. Many of these entries were useless since they were probably a one time transfer but they remained on my list forever. I tried to Google up (ahem.. tried Windows Live Search too) but there was nothing I could find for clearing this list on Windows Xp. Did a Registry Search too but to no avail. Thats when I came across a simple way to to this. My computer uses the Widcomm Bluetooth stack and here's what I did. I went to c:\Documents and Settings\< username >\Send To\Bluetooth (its a folder with the Bluetooth Icon on it) and thats where I could see 1 KB Shortcuts for each device. Interestingly these shortcuts point to c:\Program Files\WIDCOMM\Bluetooth\Bluetooth Software\btsendto_explorer.exe with a list of parameters which have the Bluetooth Device Address, Device Name and Device Class and deleting the relevant (or rather irrelevant) shortcuts result in the discovered device getting knocked out from the Send To Bluetooth list. I do not know of an option on Windows Xp which does this so I thought this might help someone who needs a solution to this.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Posted by Unknown

Shastriji ?

With the 2nd of October just having gone by, every newspaper, publication, media spoke a lot lot lot about Gandhiji, the father of the nation. There were full page advertisements of most companies and most political parties trying to grab their share of attention by writing about the Mahatma's good and simple ways. Thats another story though.. But everyone seems to have forgotten an even more simple and humble person who deserves his share of respect who happens share his birthday with the Mahatma... Shri. Lal Bahadur Shastri. Did we care to highlight that he lead the nation at a crucial time, his slogan Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan ? Did we care to highlight that he lived such a humble life ?

In India, today when farmers are commiting suicide because they are heavily in debt and with the government not doing much to ensure that these farmers live a good life. In India, today when cine stars who probably has never touched plough before claim to be farmers (to keep a 20 acre property). In India today when we remember the forces that guard our nation only when there's a Kargil like episode, we seem to have forgotten the values of Shastriji.

This is not the first time and I am not the first person to write about this. Every year, there are a few people who suddenly remember about Shastriji, just like I did.. after the 2nd of October. I think Shastriji deserves his respect and its high time we start doing it now. If not 2007, at least from 2008 onwards.

Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Posted by Unknown

VS 2008 Beta 2 is here !

Awright ! So finally Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 is available for public now. This most awaited download is 99% feature ready as per what Scott Guthrie says. Can't wait till I get my hands on it. So, its time to get busy again. Theres some interesting stuff mentioned by Somasegar in his blog. So now there's a lot to go after. The time is now !

You can get the download here. There's also a video by Scott and Somasegarhere where they talk about whats new, what's changed from Beta 1 to Beta 2, the state of .NET languages like VB9 and C# 3.0.. and how .NET has changed from 1.0 to 3.5. There's a Lap around Visual Studio 2008 video by Jay Schmelzer, which is a recording of what was presented at TechEd 2007, Orlando.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Posted by Unknown
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WB Atlantis, WB Crew

Last night, all attention was on TV. With the Atlantis scheduled to land. Various TV channels were showing their own coverage.. and perspective of the event. Some were showing people with tensed expressions but waiting to celebrate, some were showing Sunita Williams' relatives being interviewed, some channels were all out to get people even more tensed by showing how the Columbia disaster happened.. and some like Times Now were focussed just at NASA, Reuters and the event. It was all happening.. and then the Atlantis came in sight. truly majestic.. and made what was called a picture perfect touchdown. Whooo... a great experience to watch it live on TV. My palms locked in a prayer, I muttered welcome back Atlantis, welcome back Crew.

The NASA website also maintained a Landing Blog with updates as it was happening and a live video feed too. What a journey it must have been all the way out of the earth's gravitational pull piggybacked on a rocket.. get docked to the ISS... and then back home to the earth. With many such past journeys and many more to come. I got curious about other space shuttles.. existing and non existing.. and their history. I found this interesting Wiki Page which says it all. Also, here is Sunita Williams' Mission Log which I found quite interesting to read.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Posted by Unknown

Atlantis Touchdown - on TimesNow

With all the excitement of the Space Shuttle Atlantis that was expected to land yesterday late night, Indian Standard Time.. I was surfing through news channels watching out for the best coverage. I liked the one showed on Times Now, The Times Of India owned TV news channel. There was live reporting from NASA by Diane King, a Reuters news correspondent. In particular I was impressed with a feature that was titled "Countdown to Touchdown". Excellent information shared out there. What exactly happens when a Space Shuttle lands. Deorbit burn, Entry Interface, Maximum Heating, Exit Blackout, Terminal Area, Approach and Landing.. all about these stages, speeds, when the Commander takes control, the steep nosedive, right to the Touchdown and after. How the crew would be moved out to a safe location. Now thats what I call a good presentation ! Well.. we are all waiting eagerly and praying for the safe return of the Atlantis.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Posted by Unknown

Remembering Rakesh Sharma

As the world prepares to welcome Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams back to mother earth, my mind just went down memory lane when India's Rakesh Sharma went into outer space on Soyuz T-11 in 1984. I was a standard 6th school kid then and was fascinated watching all that was shown on Doordarshan. The memory of his famous answer is still fresh in mind. The then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi asked him, "upar se Bharat kaisa dikh raha hai aap ko ?" and prompt came the reply.. "Ji Bharat to Saare Jahan se Achcha hai". Wow ! That answer went down in history. I also remember his backup Wing Commander, Ravish Malhotra who was on a set of preparatory exercises too. But finally it was Rakesh Sharma who made it.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Posted by Unknown

MSN Messengerrrr Grrrrrrrrr !!!

I noticed something recently with MSN Messenger 8.1. When you hover the mouse over the advertisement section at the bottom of the main window, a big ugly advertisement comes up. Basically the advertisement zooms up and takes a large part of the screen.. and gives me back some distraction in return. Grrrrrr... I hate this !
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Posted by Unknown

Minority Report.. Coming soon..

In 2002 when I saw the Spielberg Movie Minority Report, I was impressed with the stuff shown there. John Anderton, the cop played by Tom Cruise entering the chamber of pre-cogs and using that special computer to "browse" through images captured on it. By browse I meant they showed him actually move his hands through a stored collection of pictures, zooming, rotating and resizing them up by stretching and moving his hands.

Of course I don't wish to narrate the story for those who havent seen the movie but they showed this in a future time era of 2050 which after seeing I said to myself.. eh its not that far and I guess we are gonna see computers like that soon.

And recently when Microsoft unveiled Surface... I said wow ! It's really happening. Check out http://www.microsoft.com/surface and with what Microsoft is heading for.. it's sure to rock !
Monday, June 04, 2007
Posted by Unknown
Tag :

I'm Back !

After a gap of an entire year from the blogging scene, I have finally made up my mind to start blogging again. Well, for now at least. So here I am. As usual, this space will NOT be exclusively dedicated to one-track technical content but rather a mix of lot many things that interest me. Keep in touch. Keep writing. :-)
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Posted by Unknown

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