iPhone Guitar – WOW

Wow. Just wow. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the video down the paragraph. Its pure magic man. I mean, this kid has way too much spare time that he made a guitar in an iPhone ?! Its basically a touch sensitive fret-board where you’re supposed to do gestures like in actual guitars and it even plays chords.

The visual appeal is one of the things that attracted me. It resembles a great guitar unlike other softwares with just a plain while tab-book like fret. Anyway, the iPhone is simply amazing. I helps people give wings to their crazy dreams which wouldn’t have happened without it.

Click to see the video

P.S : Sorry I didn’t embed the video here. WordPress.com is allergic to non-Youtube videos and anything good.

HCL Launches $350 Linux Laptop

2008, as I would call, is the year of mass computing. With Linux becoming more and more popular and break-through price reduction technologies emerging, access to computing is becoming much cheaper and easier. So, here’s one more Linux laptop.

HCL, today, launched the HCL X series Mileap which has a cheap price tag of $350 (Rs. 14000 INR). It comes preloaded with Linux. The laptop sports ultra-portable, unique dustproof, shock-proof and durable design and they are powered by 900 MHz Intel Celeron M ULV Processor, with 512 KB L2 Cache and upto 400 MHz Front Side Bus featuring Mobile Intel 915GMS Express Chipset Motherboard, 512-MB DDR2 533 MHz SDRAM (Max. upto 2 GB in 2 slots) and removable 2-GB Flash Drive for data storage.

You can include an additional 60/80 GB hard drive while still costing just $400. It has an extra edge by offering 4hours backup time while EeePC offers 2hours.

So, without anymore ado, here’s the overall chart condensed for fast lookup.

In a Glance

• Intel Celeron M ULV Processor, 900 MHz
• 7-inch Widescreen.
• Li-Ion Battery pack, 4 Hrs backup.
• Weight: 900 gms.
• 512-MB DDR2 SDRAM (Max. upto 2 GB – 2 slots)
• 2-GB Flash Drive (60/8 GB for $400 model)
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator GMA 900 Graphics chipset with 8-MB dedicated memory.

Ports & Others

• 4-in-1 Media Card Reader, Multimedia Card (MMC), Memory stick (MS), Secure Digital Card, MS-PRO
• 2 USB v2.0 ports
• IEEE1394 FireWire Port
• RJ-45 LAN Port 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet Controller
• RJ-11 Fax/Modem Port
• External MIC Input
• External Audio Out
• VGA Port 15 Pin D-Sub
• 4-in-1 Media Card Slot
• PCMCIA Slot
• 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Connection

Summing Up

Its a decent machine having some features providing an edge over EeePC. Even if the EeePC is without question, the pioneer and innovator in this field, lot of new players are coming up. This is opening up a completely new niche for Linux too. Mass computing is growing in a tremendous pace.

Whats your take ? Don’t forget to throw in the comments !!

[Via: CyberIndian Blog]

Happy Republic Day !!

Howdy guys. Rejoice cuz officially, its Republic Day already. The time is 12.40pm and its January 26th. Its the Indian Republic Day.

This is one of the days of the year when I get really patriotic. Appreciate the great things about this great country. Sure, there are a lot of problems. But we are one of the future-super powers in the world.

This year, French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be the guest for the Republic Day parade. Its that time of the year when all we want is a prosperous country and a peaceful loving world.

India Booming

Rewinding back to August 15, 1945. The day British left India. The old India, what can you see ? Poverty, Famine, Quarrel, Lawlessness, and mostly a country which is dependent on other countries even for food.

But come back to the present. January 26, 2008. 59 years. What do you see now ? A new India, one of the countries with the highest GDP, an outsourcing and export hub, military-power etc.

• India is the world’s 4th largest economy (larger than that of UK and France combined, and larger than that of Russia).
• India’s GDP rate is 9.2% while others like US, Japan have 3.3% and 2.2% respectively.
• Our Space agency ISRO is 6th in the world, which possess technology to propel satellites using our own launch vehicle.
• Only U.S.A and India possess the technology to build high resolution Spy-Satellites.
• The Indian Army is the most active army in Asia.
• India is one the world’s best outsourcing hotspots.
• India has NEVER started a war in history.
• India is launching its moon mission on April 2008 entering a group of elite space agencies in the world.
• India’s entry in the security council is supported by UK, France, Russia etc.
• And list goes on…

We’ve really come a long way since our independence. Even if corruption and terrorism still haunt our economy, we still are making huge leaps.

Respect Others: Our Value

Our country is one of the founding members of the non-aligned movement. We don’t align with either of the Power blocs. We have a very rich culture. But, our values are of peace and respect.

India has never waged a war in its entire history. Even in the Pakistan problem, we only defended ourselves even with its military-strength.

To be an Indian, we have to respect other countries, races and even our enemies. Thats our culture.

Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our country is the Man of the century. He’s a embodiment of non-violence. We must all follow his steps for a peaceful world.

Why should we fight ? We’re all basically ONE. If we stand together, nothing can break our friendship. So, let this republic day lead to a better, progressive and peaceful future.

Jai Hind !!

Life On Mars: Bigfoot ??

Lot of debate is going on regarding a photo-shoot by the NASA mars rover, Spirit which reveals a human-like figure on the terrain. Its really interesting how the mainstream media picked it up and made it into a sensation. It was in the front page of many popular newspapers all around the world.

^ Click image to enlarge ^
I agree that it looks somewhat like a human. But the woman ? Don’t know why these guys came with this wacky opinion. Many called it Bigfoot. Hmm… great hunch guys. Except that its just 6cm in size!!

Here’s a funny excerpt from Bad Astronomy blog :

That does look like a guy hanging out on Mars, enjoying the 0.01 Earth atmospheric pressure, the 98% CO2 air, the subfreezing cold, and of course, just being four inches tall. Martians are pretty short, it seems. And patient, given its pose.

Yeah, The Planetary Society has quite some interesting facts and details about this thing. I mean, from their explanations, it seems clear that the thing has been staying still there for a long time. I mean, this is not the first time they take a photo of it (it remains unchanged). And moreover, it takes a significant amount of time for Spirit to take a color image.

Ok, I’m not being a i-don’t-believe-miracles-wtf guy. But according to the facts…. yup…. its a rock. So, you wanna see the whole image in all its graininess ? Here’s the link :

• High-Definition Image from NASA.

Thoughts

So, since the mainstream nut-heads have already made a fortune making monkey outta normal people, I think NASA should try going near to that rock and show the world, the truth. I mean, if its not there, then maybe they’re right. It might be something else.

Foolish thought, but, why can’t it be somekinda small man-like martian fossil ? Or even the head of a buried large monster ? I think they should check it out for footprints or carbon traces or any other kinda stuff.

Actually, this whole concept about predicting life, based on earthling living conditions is, to an extent, wrong. Who knows ? Maybe its a martian tree or something which doesn’t have anything similar to an earth tree.

Imagination goes forever. I think its upto NASA to bring some light to this mystery.

Our Universe Isn’t Silent

So, if you’re like me, you would be spending 30-40 minutes everyday meditating. Its really tough to get started with this habit. But once you start taking the wheels for your minds, you know its soothing and wonderful. Truly, silence is the real music.

I have this fantasy. I pretend to be like that. I consider myself sitting at the center of the Universe. Nothing to disturb me. Eternal peace. I mean, we all know sound has problems in transmitting through vacuum.

But here’s something which was a real freak-out for me. I mean, isn’t there any peaceful place in the universe anymore ? This is really weird and creepy. Either those aliens are playing techno or they’re doing some crazy monk ritual.

Here’s a video which has the sound clip NASA recorded from Jupiter :

So, you thought that was crazy ?? Hear the haunted house in Space. Download the “Miranda” track from here.

Anyway, space does allow sound transmission ? Well, here’s an article I read months ago and boy, do they have news for you or what ?!

Lolcatz Alertz: Vampire Cat

I can haz ur blood ? 

UFOs Love America

Ok, this is getting crazy and weird at the same time. Yesterday, I saw this article on Yahoo! News about “Dozens in Texas town report seeing UFO“. Read the article. It wasn’t actually any different from the ones I’ve read earlier.

I mean, UFO sightings aren’t a new thing. People see it often. But the real question is. Why do only people from U.S see UFOs ?

No explanation (did anyone expect it owing to the title). Never have I seen any reports about UFO sightings outside America. Maybe UFOs must be crazy about American skies or maybe Americans are the only people wacky enough to believe in such illusions.

I’m not denying its existence. But this is really strange. So, anybody have evidence against my inference. If yes, please do comment about it. I’m eager to know.

MacBook Air Launched

So, Macworld 08 is over. The hyped MacBook Air is out. Through this new notebook, Apple claims to ship the thinnest laptop in the industry. As part of the 4th presentation at Macworld, Steve demonstrated some of its features. The most notable being the fact that the 3lbs notebook fits in an envelope !

It has Multi-Touch trackpad, Full-Size keyboard, 13.3″ screen and is only 0.76″ thick but NO OPTICAL EXTERNAL DRIVE (NO CD/DVD)

Here are the technical specifications :

• Screen Width: 13.3″
• Thickness: 0.76″
  
• Height:  0.16-0.76 inch (0.4-1.94 cm)
• Width:  12.8 inches (32.5 cm)
• Depth:  8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
• Weight:  3.0 pounds (1.36 kg)
• Intel Core 2 Duo processor.
• 80GB 4200-rpm Parallel ATA hard disk drive (Optional 64GB solid-state drive)
• iSight.
• 802.1n and Bluetooth networking.
• External Speakers.
• Audio output, USB 2.0, Micro-DVI ports.
• Upto 5 hour backup time.

The main disadvantage though is the absence of an Optical drive (a.k.a CD/DVD drive). Ouch !! We knew they had to compromise on something. But, look at the bright side, they claim to have included a software to “borrow” the drive of another Mac.

So, here are the pros/cons list :

Pros :

1. Extremely Thin.
2. Full-Size Keyboard.
3. Multi-Touch Trackpad.
4. 13.3″ Screen.

Cons :

1. No Optical External Drive.
2. Only 5 Hour Backup.

And it is priced at $1799. Summing up, I would say, even if its costly, its a great deal since we get a really thin notebook. But, the lack of optical drive is BIG problem. Hope you liked it. Throw in some comments.

Python in 10 Minutes : Thats Cool

Today was an equally boring day >_<. Had Maths exams. Screwed up a lot of problems which I knew. I was feeling really crappy and so, while looking for random stuff, I came to see this. A tutorial which promises to teach you Python in just 10 minutes.

I didn’t believe the claim. Since its just 10 minutes, I thought I’d give it a go. So, I invested some time into this. I’m actually based on C++. Though I’m not a coding guru. I know how to use it. So, I read this whole article and guess what !? I learned Python.

Of course, it wasn’t 10 minutes as it said. But, I finished it in about 30 minutes. Didn’t have a stopwatch or anything so its an approximation. But its sure worth the time you invest. I mean, now, if you read any advanced Python tutorial book, you won’t be feeling bored and lost.

I have to say this for myself dawg, Python is easy. Well, not easy actually. But it definitely isn’t tough. I mean, comparing to C/C++, it was easy to grasp. I bet C/C++/Java cannot be taught in 10 minutes. Anyway, I’m going to read “Dive into Python” next since it covers the language deeply. And hey, Dive into Python is free to read online. So, give it go.

Anyway, I recommend you to try this out. So, if you’re bored and have 30 minutes (10 minutes actually.. depends upon your grasping skill and yeah, distraction level) to spare, then this is the thing for you. Hope you enjoy it.

Nikola Tesla – The Forgotten Wizard

Recently, I saw a video on Youtube about this wizard named Tesla. Of course, some of you might already know him. Yeah, his name is used to represent Magnetic Field (eg. 3T). But, if asked to speak about this guy, what all would you say ? Nothing much, most prolly.

But what if I ask you to talk about Newton or Einstein ? Suddenly you’re not so speechless, huh ? Well, after reading tons of articles (currently reading his autobiography), I firmly believe that this person deserves respect and recognition more than any other scientist.

And hey, screw you Thomas Edison !! (You’ll figure this out after the video).

So, go check out the video already. Its embedded right below you. And don’t forget about the comments.

Cheh..