© c&h
Monday, August 29, 2005
Monday, August 15, 2005
"killer mountain" resue attempt
Tomaz Humar is one of Slovenia's best-known mountain climbers
Recently he attempted to climb the treacherous Nanga Parbat, located in Northern Pakistan. It is popularly referred to as the "killer mountain" since many mountaineers have died attempting to climb it.
© humar.com
He got stuck on the way there and was rescued in a daring attempt by the Pakistan Army pilots. Please note that flying in a chopper, in the thin air at 6000 meters, is a very difficult thing to do
Tomaz has posted pictures and videos of his resuce attempt. Do check it out, they are really amazing
Recently he attempted to climb the treacherous Nanga Parbat, located in Northern Pakistan. It is popularly referred to as the "killer mountain" since many mountaineers have died attempting to climb it.
© humar.com
He got stuck on the way there and was rescued in a daring attempt by the Pakistan Army pilots. Please note that flying in a chopper, in the thin air at 6000 meters, is a very difficult thing to do
Tomaz has posted pictures and videos of his resuce attempt. Do check it out, they are really amazing
Monday, August 08, 2005
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Daily Dose of Imagery is a photoblog by Sam Javanrouh, a Canada based Iranian. He takes a photo every day when walking or cycling to or from work. All his photos are truly fantastic and help to take off the burden on a working day.
"Old reflected on new" © Sam Javanrouh 2005
In my opinion, his is the best photoblog by far on the web... keep it up, Sam!
"Old reflected on new" © Sam Javanrouh 2005
In my opinion, his is the best photoblog by far on the web... keep it up, Sam!
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
I really wanted to do this since I joined my present workplace...
There were interesting patterns in the seismic images taken of the earth's subsurface (to detect cavities, potentially for oil; very basic process in oil exploration)... and I wondered if a portrait could be made out of these seismic images... so here is my first attempt at making a seismic portrait of Jinnah, founder of Pakistan.
(688 X 1024) © sami jan
It was made using 17 tiles cut from a seismic image and fed to easyMosaic2005... the greyed areas were introduced by the software, they were necessary to bring out the features... maybe if someone spends more time on making better tiles for the seismic image, there will be no need for this greying
A print-out on A-4 sized paper looks pretty good
There were interesting patterns in the seismic images taken of the earth's subsurface (to detect cavities, potentially for oil; very basic process in oil exploration)... and I wondered if a portrait could be made out of these seismic images... so here is my first attempt at making a seismic portrait of Jinnah, founder of Pakistan.
(688 X 1024) © sami jan
It was made using 17 tiles cut from a seismic image and fed to easyMosaic2005... the greyed areas were introduced by the software, they were necessary to bring out the features... maybe if someone spends more time on making better tiles for the seismic image, there will be no need for this greying
A print-out on A-4 sized paper looks pretty good
Monday, July 18, 2005
halfway up the eiffel tower
See a panorama image of paris from half-way up the eiffel tower, really amazing, almost feels like you are there yourself - link
tapping into creative people
Harvard Business Review ran a feature recently on SAS, a privately held business software company that has revenues in excess of $1 billion, 3-5% employment turnover, sells its products to 90% of the Fortune 500 & has a 98% subscription renewal rate
The article tells us that SAS is successul mainly because:
a. it makes an effort to nurture creativity of its employees, from programmers to sales support to managers (sounds like an oxymoron, "creative managers" ;) by providing an obstacles free environment, and a team of supportive and creative middle and upper-level management
b. and it really focuses on providing the best support as possible to customers by delivering almost bug-free software and quick customer support
Highlights include:
"Help employees do their best work by keeping them intellectually engaged and by removing distractions. Make managers responsible for sparking creativity and eliminate arbitrary distinctions between “suits” and “creatives.” And engage customers as creative partners so you can deliver superior products."
"In all cases, form follows function. As much as leaders at SAS value technology, they strongly believe that it’s people who make technology useful, not the other way around. If a tool is constrictive or makes people change their preferred ways of working, then it gets scrapped. The goal is always the same—to help workers be great. "
"On campus, it has medical facilities for employees and dependents. Additionally, there’s a Montessori day care center, and children are welcome in the company cafeteria, so families can eat lunch together."
"Not only do the benefits make workers more productive, but they also help retain those workers, reducing the company’s expenses for recruitment and replacement. SAS saves about $85 million a year in such costs"
"The corporate philosophy is, if your fifth grader is in his first school play, you should be there to see it. SAS has earned a spot on Working Mother’s list of best companies so many times that professionals are lining up to apply."
"The importance of that point cannot be overstated. Knowing that your boss thoroughly understands and respects the work you do—because he or she has actually done it—has many positive outcomes. In addition to feeling that your contributions are appreciated, you’ll probably be less hesitant to ask questions, because you know your manager “gets it,” and you’ll have more faith in your boss’s decisions. Business life abounds with stories about managers who’ve failed to earn the respect of professional, technical, and other creative employees: the university president with no scholarly credentials, the law school administrator who’s not a member of the bar, the movie studio executive who provokes a rebellion among directors, actors, and other talent."
"That’s not to say that SAS never has difficulties with employees. With its enticing array of benefits, SAS is bound to attract a few people who would rather enjoy the perks than do the work. The company uses rigorous hiring practices to prevent such candidates from getting in the door; applicants may have to wait months for a decision while the company conducts a thorough vetting."
About the customer aspect of the company :
"Day in and day out, SAS gathers—and acts on—customer complaints and suggestions through its Web site and over the phone. The company also solicits feedback once a year through its Web-based SASware Ballot, which asks users about additional features they would like."
"Additionally, SAS collects feedback at an annual users’ conference, which is quite unlike the usual sales-pitch-in-disguise event. Imagine for a moment the vast creative potential of millions of users—highly intelligent professionals hailing from diverse disciplines and 110 countries. According to SAS’s marketing creative director, Steve Benfield, it’s difficult to develop software “when you don’t have some external validation of one particular set of ideas over another…. But finding out what resonates with those beyond the office walls—that’s gold!” "
"In large part, SAS can thank its subscription-plan business model for these regular interactions between employees and customers, and for its relatively stable revenue flows in a volatile industry. Customer loyalty is so high that the company saves money on advertising and other sales efforts. As a result, fully 26% of SAS’s budget gets channeled directly into research and development. The average for high-tech companies is 10%. A well-funded R&D department leads to better products, which leads to happier customers, which leads to—you can see where this is going. "
link
The article tells us that SAS is successul mainly because:
a. it makes an effort to nurture creativity of its employees, from programmers to sales support to managers (sounds like an oxymoron, "creative managers" ;) by providing an obstacles free environment, and a team of supportive and creative middle and upper-level management
b. and it really focuses on providing the best support as possible to customers by delivering almost bug-free software and quick customer support
Highlights include:
"Help employees do their best work by keeping them intellectually engaged and by removing distractions. Make managers responsible for sparking creativity and eliminate arbitrary distinctions between “suits” and “creatives.” And engage customers as creative partners so you can deliver superior products."
"In all cases, form follows function. As much as leaders at SAS value technology, they strongly believe that it’s people who make technology useful, not the other way around. If a tool is constrictive or makes people change their preferred ways of working, then it gets scrapped. The goal is always the same—to help workers be great. "
"On campus, it has medical facilities for employees and dependents. Additionally, there’s a Montessori day care center, and children are welcome in the company cafeteria, so families can eat lunch together."
"Not only do the benefits make workers more productive, but they also help retain those workers, reducing the company’s expenses for recruitment and replacement. SAS saves about $85 million a year in such costs"
"The corporate philosophy is, if your fifth grader is in his first school play, you should be there to see it. SAS has earned a spot on Working Mother’s list of best companies so many times that professionals are lining up to apply."
"The importance of that point cannot be overstated. Knowing that your boss thoroughly understands and respects the work you do—because he or she has actually done it—has many positive outcomes. In addition to feeling that your contributions are appreciated, you’ll probably be less hesitant to ask questions, because you know your manager “gets it,” and you’ll have more faith in your boss’s decisions. Business life abounds with stories about managers who’ve failed to earn the respect of professional, technical, and other creative employees: the university president with no scholarly credentials, the law school administrator who’s not a member of the bar, the movie studio executive who provokes a rebellion among directors, actors, and other talent."
"That’s not to say that SAS never has difficulties with employees. With its enticing array of benefits, SAS is bound to attract a few people who would rather enjoy the perks than do the work. The company uses rigorous hiring practices to prevent such candidates from getting in the door; applicants may have to wait months for a decision while the company conducts a thorough vetting."
About the customer aspect of the company :
"Day in and day out, SAS gathers—and acts on—customer complaints and suggestions through its Web site and over the phone. The company also solicits feedback once a year through its Web-based SASware Ballot, which asks users about additional features they would like."
"Additionally, SAS collects feedback at an annual users’ conference, which is quite unlike the usual sales-pitch-in-disguise event. Imagine for a moment the vast creative potential of millions of users—highly intelligent professionals hailing from diverse disciplines and 110 countries. According to SAS’s marketing creative director, Steve Benfield, it’s difficult to develop software “when you don’t have some external validation of one particular set of ideas over another…. But finding out what resonates with those beyond the office walls—that’s gold!” "
"In large part, SAS can thank its subscription-plan business model for these regular interactions between employees and customers, and for its relatively stable revenue flows in a volatile industry. Customer loyalty is so high that the company saves money on advertising and other sales efforts. As a result, fully 26% of SAS’s budget gets channeled directly into research and development. The average for high-tech companies is 10%. A well-funded R&D department leads to better products, which leads to happier customers, which leads to—you can see where this is going. "
link
Thursday, July 14, 2005
wanna be a manager?
a lot of people i meet in real life dream of the day they are promoted from coder to manager (i live in pakistan... great talent here but 50 years of a beuracracy led country has many kids dreaming of becoming a "babu", or "suit-wearing, platitude-speaking, looking-busing-doing-nothing kind of no-gooder" )
img © dilbert.com
i had the misfortune of working for a manager long time back who was the real-life version of dilbert's PHB, so i know what dilbert feels like.... i was also "manager" (coder/team lead/product manager/program manager) for a while so i know also why it's such a droll job, specially when you hate writing code higher-level than the windows API and you have to manage a web-based (JSP, Oracle, Javascript) web application !!! EEyucch!!!
Being a coder rocks because, as many of our taxi cabs say on their bumpers, "no tension"... design, code, unit test.... that's it, gimme coding any time of the day
img © dilbert.com
i had the misfortune of working for a manager long time back who was the real-life version of dilbert's PHB, so i know what dilbert feels like.... i was also "manager" (coder/team lead/product manager/program manager) for a while so i know also why it's such a droll job, specially when you hate writing code higher-level than the windows API and you have to manage a web-based (JSP, Oracle, Javascript) web application !!! EEyucch!!!
Being a coder rocks because, as many of our taxi cabs say on their bumpers, "no tension"... design, code, unit test.... that's it, gimme coding any time of the day
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Pakistan cheer for the Indian side
Another example of the good spirit of Pakistanis, this time the military boxing team of Pakistan cheered and supported the Indian team in the Military Boxing Championships at Pretoria, South Africa link
Neither team won a gold at the championship but "friendship came out as the winner", as they say
In March 2004, India toured Pakistan in a cricket series and the reception Indian fans and team received surprised and overwhelmed everyone from across Wagah - the tour was won by India but the spirit shown by Pakistani fans was fantastic. The winning Indian team were cheered and given standing ovations and Irfan Pathan, the bowler, was cheered loudly in Peshawar as he bowled to the Pakistani batsmen. Top Indian actors, former sportsmen and politicians turned up for the historic series, even the two scions of the Kennedys of India, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi
img © tribuneindia
In March 2005, the Pakistani team returned the visit and it left the Indians wondering if their countrymen could reciprocate Pakistani hospitality. Even though the Indian people were found to be generally supportive off the field, in the streets and markets, in the stands it was a different story. Eyewitness accounts of Pakistani fans sitting in the crowd tell how they started to feel hostility when the Pakistani bowlers started putting the pressure in Delhi and only singing we-love-delhi ditties created in run-time could helped them sit through them match
The biggest winner for Pakistan would be if the Indians could forget the previous Indian governments' propaganda that Pakistan is the Big-Evil and both countries could have a culture of hospitality and friendliness to match and even exceed that within the EU... england, france and the others forgot their centuries old tribal wars, why not the peoples of one of the richest and most ancient cultures in the world?
Neither team won a gold at the championship but "friendship came out as the winner", as they say
In March 2004, India toured Pakistan in a cricket series and the reception Indian fans and team received surprised and overwhelmed everyone from across Wagah - the tour was won by India but the spirit shown by Pakistani fans was fantastic. The winning Indian team were cheered and given standing ovations and Irfan Pathan, the bowler, was cheered loudly in Peshawar as he bowled to the Pakistani batsmen. Top Indian actors, former sportsmen and politicians turned up for the historic series, even the two scions of the Kennedys of India, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi
img © tribuneindia
In March 2005, the Pakistani team returned the visit and it left the Indians wondering if their countrymen could reciprocate Pakistani hospitality. Even though the Indian people were found to be generally supportive off the field, in the streets and markets, in the stands it was a different story. Eyewitness accounts of Pakistani fans sitting in the crowd tell how they started to feel hostility when the Pakistani bowlers started putting the pressure in Delhi and only singing we-love-delhi ditties created in run-time could helped them sit through them match
The biggest winner for Pakistan would be if the Indians could forget the previous Indian governments' propaganda that Pakistan is the Big-Evil and both countries could have a culture of hospitality and friendliness to match and even exceed that within the EU... england, france and the others forgot their centuries old tribal wars, why not the peoples of one of the richest and most ancient cultures in the world?
Friday, July 08, 2005
cartoon laws of physics
full list: link
Cartoon Law I
Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of its situation.
Daffy Duck steps off a cliff, expecting further pastureland. He loiters in midair, soliloquizing flippantly, until he chances to look down. At this point, the familiar principle of 32 feet per second takes over.
Cartoon Law VII
Certain bodies can pass through solid walls painted to resemble tunnel entrances; others cannot.
Cartoon Law Amendment D
Gravity is transmitted by slow-moving waves of large wavelengths.
Their operation can be witnessed by observing the behavior of a canine suspended over a large vertical drop. Its feet will begin to fall first, causing its legs to stretch. As the wave reaches its torso, that part will begin to fall, causing the neck to stretch. As the head begins to fall, tension is released and the canine will resume its regular proportions until such time as it strikes the ground.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
googleEarth - how to see NY in 3D
Download the free version of googleEarth from here
Start the application, it should login automatically or select "Free version"
In the menu on the top left, select "Fly To" and write "New York, NY"
Wait a little while and data is streamed, when the progress meter at the bottom shows 100%, all the satellite imagery has been loaded
In the toolbar at the bottom, click on the button that says "Tilt down"
The view should tilt and you can see the city of New York in perspective - only the earth is flat
In the "Layers" menu on the left, scroll down and select "3D buildings"
Wait a little and the earth will be populated with the skyscrapers of NY!! They are not texture mapped yet, maybe Google will fix this in the near future....
(Click to see large view)
You can navigate now using the toolbar at the bottom, try flying above the NY landscape...
Start the application, it should login automatically or select "Free version"
In the menu on the top left, select "Fly To" and write "New York, NY"
Wait a little while and data is streamed, when the progress meter at the bottom shows 100%, all the satellite imagery has been loaded
In the toolbar at the bottom, click on the button that says "Tilt down"
The view should tilt and you can see the city of New York in perspective - only the earth is flat
In the "Layers" menu on the left, scroll down and select "3D buildings"
Wait a little and the earth will be populated with the skyscrapers of NY!! They are not texture mapped yet, maybe Google will fix this in the near future....
(Click to see large view)
You can navigate now using the toolbar at the bottom, try flying above the NY landscape...
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
wacky dude face thingy...
USAF toystore
where they keep all their surplus planes, all shrink wrapped and ready to fly.... also have redundant planes like the B-52 bomber, these were mercilessly destroyed in large number after the cold war ended...
This is SE of Tucson, Arizona
This is SE of Tucson, Arizona
more googleMapping
I've been experimenting with Google Maps and it turns out that you can go to a location directly by giving a lat/long... could not decipher the url googleMaps generates when you click "link to this page", (solved it later) so tried it out in the edit box itself and it turns out you can specify lat/long in this form:
115 44 00 W 37 38 30 N -or- 45.9820 N 63.5560 E -or- 45.9820 , 63.5560
...don't need to give the tuntuna for degree, and hypehns etc, spaces will do.. you *do* need to specify W/E & N/S though...
so I googled for an Area 51 location (what ARE all those green thingies?) and the Baikonur Comsodrome, Kazakhastan and the Nazca Lines in Peru using lat/long values
since a google map search for these phrases would turn up nothing, my approach was to web search for: MY_PLACE latitude longitude - and someone had always had it listed somewhere, and then map search for that lat/long
- More Area-51 lat/longs here
While googling for this post, I came across this page... are they just bombing targets or is there something more sinister here?....
More sinister Area-51 GoogleMap images here... God bless google & gis, sniff sniff
115 44 00 W 37 38 30 N -or- 45.9820 N 63.5560 E -or- 45.9820 , 63.5560
...don't need to give the tuntuna for degree, and hypehns etc, spaces will do.. you *do* need to specify W/E & N/S though...
so I googled for an Area 51 location (what ARE all those green thingies?) and the Baikonur Comsodrome, Kazakhastan and the Nazca Lines in Peru using lat/long values
since a google map search for these phrases would turn up nothing, my approach was to web search for: MY_PLACE latitude longitude - and someone had always had it listed somewhere, and then map search for that lat/long
- More Area-51 lat/longs here
While googling for this post, I came across this page... are they just bombing targets or is there something more sinister here?....
More sinister Area-51 GoogleMap images here... God bless google & gis, sniff sniff
Monday, June 27, 2005
rock tha party (& how to record audio streams in xp)
"rock tha party" is a really cool new song by a danish/indian group called bombay rockers...
homepage at bombayrockers.com
i could not find an mp3 so i recorded the stream on my pc...
this is a how i recorded the media stream into mp3 format:
1. Do volume control->options->properties->recording->click OK. Select "Wave Out Mix"
2. Start Start->Programs->Accessories->Entertainment->Sound Recorder & Start Recording - (before you do that, you need to work around the SR 60 second limit, here is a tip how to do that - link (is there a better way to do this? maybe change a reg value)
3. Play stream. It's recorded by Sound Recorder as a wav file. (You can cut out start and end silence, increase/decrease volume inside of SR)
3.5 Save this to disk as wav file for later conversion by winamp or set option to "mpeg3" in the "save as" dialog box and save as mp3 here
4. Right click Winamp bar -> options -> preferences -> output -> disk writer -> click configure button -> convert to format -> mpeg 3
5. Click play (make sure cycle/repeat is off)
TIP: keep the "Wave Out Mix" volume low, keeping it high introduced noise for me..
homepage at bombayrockers.com
i could not find an mp3 so i recorded the stream on my pc...
this is a how i recorded the media stream into mp3 format:
1. Do volume control->options->properties->recording->click OK. Select "Wave Out Mix"
2. Start Start->Programs->Accessories->Entertainment->Sound Recorder & Start Recording - (before you do that, you need to work around the SR 60 second limit, here is a tip how to do that - link (is there a better way to do this? maybe change a reg value)
3. Play stream. It's recorded by Sound Recorder as a wav file. (You can cut out start and end silence, increase/decrease volume inside of SR)
3.5 Save this to disk as wav file for later conversion by winamp or set option to "mpeg3" in the "save as" dialog box and save as mp3 here
4. Right click Winamp bar -> options -> preferences -> output -> disk writer -> click configure button -> convert to format -> mpeg 3
5. Click play (make sure cycle/repeat is off)
TIP: keep the "Wave Out Mix" volume low, keeping it high introduced noise for me..
Thursday, June 23, 2005
flying with baloons... real ones
"Anyone who’s ever been eight years old has wondered the same thing: How many balloons would it take to carry me up into the sky? John Ninomiya knows the answer. He’s logged 32 flights—and ascended as high as 21,400 feet—dangling beneath clusters of between 40 and 120 helium balloons."
img © popSci
link (opens in new window)
img © popSci
link (opens in new window)
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Google maps gone global
Now googleMaps shows almost all of the world, albeit without maximum zoom... Islamabad looks OK... Rawalpindi looks like a dump...
Moscow is really beautiful from in the sky...
I zoned into Gwadar, a hot topic of interest these days in Pakistan, the government and other "intellectuals" predict it to become another dubai.....
maybe this snap gives an inkling to why it's so important...check out the beautiful coastline and the apparently strategic land shape
© google
Moscow is really beautiful from in the sky...
I zoned into Gwadar, a hot topic of interest these days in Pakistan, the government and other "intellectuals" predict it to become another dubai.....
maybe this snap gives an inkling to why it's so important...check out the beautiful coastline and the apparently strategic land shape
Monday, June 13, 2005
what makes a good programmer
an excellent article by the guy who founded the company that went on to become store.yahoo.com
http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html
some highlights:
Ordinary programmers write code to pay the bills. Great hackers think of it as something they do for fun, and which they're delighted to find people will pay them for.
The programmers you'll be able to hire to work on a Java project won't be as smart as the ones you could get to work on a project written in Python. And the quality of your hackers probably matters more than the language you choose.
One big company that understands what hackers need is Microsoft. I once saw a recruiting ad for Microsoft with a big picture of a door. Work for us, the premise was, and we'll give you a place to work where you can actually get work done.
If companies want hackers to be productive, they should look at what they do at home. At home, hackers can arrange things themselves so they can get the most done. And when they work at home, hackers don't work in noisy, open spaces; they work in rooms with doors. They work in cosy, neighborhoody places with people around and somewhere to walk when they need to mull something over, instead of in glass boxes set in acres of parking lots. They have a sofa they can take a nap on when they feel tired, instead of sitting in a coma at their desk, pretending to work. There's no crew of people with vacuum cleaners that roars through every evening during the prime hacking hours. There are no meetings or, God forbid, corporate retreats or team-building exercises.
http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html
some highlights:
Ordinary programmers write code to pay the bills. Great hackers think of it as something they do for fun, and which they're delighted to find people will pay them for.
The programmers you'll be able to hire to work on a Java project won't be as smart as the ones you could get to work on a project written in Python. And the quality of your hackers probably matters more than the language you choose.
One big company that understands what hackers need is Microsoft. I once saw a recruiting ad for Microsoft with a big picture of a door. Work for us, the premise was, and we'll give you a place to work where you can actually get work done.
If companies want hackers to be productive, they should look at what they do at home. At home, hackers can arrange things themselves so they can get the most done. And when they work at home, hackers don't work in noisy, open spaces; they work in rooms with doors. They work in cosy, neighborhoody places with people around and somewhere to walk when they need to mull something over, instead of in glass boxes set in acres of parking lots. They have a sofa they can take a nap on when they feel tired, instead of sitting in a coma at their desk, pretending to work. There's no crew of people with vacuum cleaners that roars through every evening during the prime hacking hours. There are no meetings or, God forbid, corporate retreats or team-building exercises.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
sightseeing with google maps
http://www.googlesightseeing.com/
check it out... lots of cool stuff seen thru satellite images, sometimes an airplane, skiers and even potential UFO's...
check it out... lots of cool stuff seen thru satellite images, sometimes an airplane, skiers and even potential UFO's...
Thursday, June 02, 2005
The best of the best on the web (and some tips on better surfing)
(posting on office newsletter for may)
Next to Google on finding accurate information comes the excellent Wikipedia, which is a multi-lingual encyclopedia of information created and maintained by everyone. It is coded using wiki technology, which is "a web application that allows users to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows anyone to edit the content". The wonderful aspect of wiki is that it enables everyone to contribute freely and independantly to a topic of interest. It is again monitored by visitors to the site who notify moderators to any omissions or mistakes. Since anyone can contribute, the articles present a rich & exhaustive treasure of information without the usual bias found in corporate media. Check out the links on my hometown & Harry Potter. Another source for information is answers.com, which is the website behind the link if you click for a google definition.
If you are a veritable news reader, you may want to check out the new Customization feature of Google news. It allows a user to add specific sections of news to the main Google News Page. It also allows a user to share their customized news pages.
A very common annoyance on some news sites is a subscription requirement. You can get around it by using bugmenot, which lists logins submitted by users. If you can't find a login here, try pookmail, which is a disposable mail account. Just enter any username@pookmail.com and it is delivered to that mailbox where it is alive for 24 hours... no messy logins to your own email account and no fear of getting spammed
If you love reading comix off the web but don't have the patience to visit each website, try this site. It lists many daily comics. The best thing is that it is open-source so you can add your own comics and view them on your own PHP server
Probably the most pervasive word on the web these days is weblogging which is a website updated by users, or webloggers, daily. There are many blogging sites out there where you can make your own weblog including blogger & livejournal. Blogger is more user-friendly, with a host of useful templates to choose from. One of the most popular blogs is instapundit.com, a political blog. One of the most popular photoblogs is ddoi, updated by an Irani artist living in Toronto. Each picture here is a real gem, and the author gives details on the camera used and its settings, excellent for beginner photographers with a digital camera
What can be better than having access to a repository of sites based on your own interests. Instead of googling for sites, you can view sites recommended by like-minded people with the help of the stumbleupon application or del.icio.us bookmarks site. It is obvious that sites recommended by people are always better than those recommended by search engines, no matter how good they are or by corporate owned websites like msn who have their own preferences. Stumbleupon is installed as a toolbar. Once logged in, enter your interests and click stumble to see sites based on those interests recommended by people, not machines. I have stumbled across many gems stumbling (at home, of course :), including these singing horses, science of cooking, the internet as it was on a past date & flash-based robots, It is recommended that Firefox be used for stumbling, since it has better rogue-site blocking capabilities than IE. de.icio.us lists sites based on tags assigned to them by people and it can help find very relevant sites.
Last but not the least, one web browser that will enhance your browsing like no other is Mozilla Firefox. It helps manage multiple windows by opening each new window in a new tab and blocks ad-popups natively. My favorite feature of the browser is its adblocking capability. Installing this extension allows one to right-click and block the ad itself or even its frame, remove the dangling whitespace. Also, updating the usercontent.css file in the Firefox installation directory with the file listed here blocks websites or links based on url e.g. all urls containg _ad_ or _click_ are blocked, thus eliminating 99% of all ads. Imagine browsing without flashing promos and annoying smiley ads. (You may need a firefox or windows restart to see effects of changing your css file)
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
21st century in desi-land
a poster somewhere in pakistan blends the best of today and yesterday, desi and par-desi...
Translation: Telenor (then new gsm cell phone service) connections are available, and oh yeah, home-made butter is also available
Translation: Telenor (then new gsm cell phone service) connections are available, and oh yeah, home-made butter is also available
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Friday, April 15, 2005
firefoxy
.
Been stumbling in Firefox..
Firefox works for me 'cause:
. it has pretty good adblocking capability... download and install the adblock extension (firefoxy for plug-in... damn all these abstractions) and right-click and block all the crap from the web.... imagine ad-clean browsing howstuffworks, fileplanet and even hotmail
Also check out the ad-parser/remover file for firefox, dunno if there is something similar for IE... looks and removes all urls which *may* be ads like /ad/ etc.
. I can do a right-click & open in tab in background - makes browsing so much easier
It *does not* work for me 'cause...
. Memory intensive... open a window with 2 tabs after a couple of hours and it takes soooo long to respond
. Tabbed browsing does not work with alt-tab, it takes you to the next tab in order, whereas it should take you to the previous tab, like in windows
. Cannot move the toolbar buttons as easily as in IE, gotta go into "edit toolbar buttons" mode and *then* move the buttons around... cannot resize toolbar as in IE e.g. one row of toolbar on my IE has 3 toolbars are compressed together...
. Seems bulky... IE is much cleaner and lighter.. or mebbe I can make it that....
In conclusion I *really* think IE can get more downloads if it implements tabbed browsing and an adblocker atleast as good as the one for FireFox
.
Been stumbling in Firefox..
Firefox works for me 'cause:
. it has pretty good adblocking capability... download and install the adblock extension (firefoxy for plug-in... damn all these abstractions) and right-click and block all the crap from the web.... imagine ad-clean browsing howstuffworks, fileplanet and even hotmail
Also check out the ad-parser/remover file for firefox, dunno if there is something similar for IE... looks and removes all urls which *may* be ads like /ad/ etc.
. I can do a right-click & open in tab in background - makes browsing so much easier
It *does not* work for me 'cause...
. Memory intensive... open a window with 2 tabs after a couple of hours and it takes soooo long to respond
. Tabbed browsing does not work with alt-tab, it takes you to the next tab in order, whereas it should take you to the previous tab, like in windows
. Cannot move the toolbar buttons as easily as in IE, gotta go into "edit toolbar buttons" mode and *then* move the buttons around... cannot resize toolbar as in IE e.g. one row of toolbar on my IE has 3 toolbars are compressed together...
. Seems bulky... IE is much cleaner and lighter.. or mebbe I can make it that....
In conclusion I *really* think IE can get more downloads if it implements tabbed browsing and an adblocker atleast as good as the one for FireFox
.
cool links
Fixed some bugs right before a close deadline.. been chilling today, stumbled alot.. found something really useful...
If u wanted to make a new blog interafce but did not have the time/knowledge to make one from scratch, try this one out... makes a nice 2 or 3 coulmn interface for u based on color choice for font, links etc. with the help of a generator..... support for Blogger and MovableType... font choices are limited but u can always change the code for that....just copy the source code and paste it in your blog template setting page... have'nt tried it for mine yet...
If u wanted to make a new blog interafce but did not have the time/knowledge to make one from scratch, try this one out... makes a nice 2 or 3 coulmn interface for u based on color choice for font, links etc. with the help of a generator..... support for Blogger and MovableType... font choices are limited but u can always change the code for that....just copy the source code and paste it in your blog template setting page... have'nt tried it for mine yet...
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