Tare Zameen Par......

8 + 5 = 11 ? ,Yes , Yes Yes !!! 8 + 5 = 11.

We have found our Ishaan in Nitin’s form.

He amused us, but he was jittery and sticky for sometime but later he giggled then myself and Rohan had hilarious laugh…after convincing him 8 + 3 = 11.
Then we decided he is going to be our Ishaan.

Coming back to the movie !!

Ironically , Taare Zameen Par is so vast and meaningful in its script that the film not only depicts the life of a single child but takes all those children into its ambit who struggle in this world to survive and who want to explore but their curiosity is killed because of the same old theoretical way to teach children.

The story is straightforward and instantaneously gels with each grown-up person and kid in the theatre. Even as the high point is unsurprising and plays closely on your sentiment, but what pushes the film is its very plain, and sensitive storyline and the acting. The script is not traditional, which has some bad characters. It is the depiction of Ishaan (Darsheel), who trapezes between problems of dyslexia and his wonderful world of imagination. And holding it all together is Aamir Khan, who delivers a spell bounding performance as a teacher.Aamir has brilliantly portrayed the mysterious, magical child who suffers from dyslexia.

He has sent waves around Bollywood, providing an answer to ‘can actors be good directors?’ Well they truly can, this is what Aamir has prove to the industry and the audience also with Taare Zameen Par.

Hats of to his savvy.

I will not give 4-5 stars to this movie but I give all *****STARS***** to this movie as I found it so touching.

Is your password hacker-proof ?

Well , every time we create our password we wonder , how strong my password is.And the same time how simple is my password to remember :-)

There’s finally some good news if you're trying to protect yourself from hackers. If you're looking for a hacker-proof password, simplicity may be the way to go. Now you can check you password with password checker.......

Just type in a password, and you'll know instantly how strong or weak your option is.

Click here to check your password...

Doing this will tell you how safe your password is from dictionary attacks that run through a whole dictionary or brute force attack that just runs through billions of combinations.

And for all you Mac OS users, password assistant is your designated guru.

We all know that a password is a random mix of numbers letters and symbols.

pram4#536/#@ is a great password but the problem is neither you or I can remember it. The solution is to come up with a random, logical combination.

There are four steps to making a great password.

The four step rules:

1. Just a dictionary single word, preferably in a different language. It is not at all powerful and easily broken but we're just getting started.

2. Now add a four digit number, a date of some significance that's not your date of birth.

3. Now end it with another word that relates to the website or page. That will do it.

4. But here's what will make it almost crack-proof. Add a symbol or two and then change the order.

Well that should care of your password needs. But what do you do if your office requires you to come up with a new one every 15 days?

All I can say is good luck and keep changing :-)

New arrivals at Google.....

Google Indic Transliteration.

Now it is easy to write in Indian languages with the help of Google Indic Transliteration.
Google Indic Transliteration offers an option for converting Roman characters to the Devanāgarī characters used in Hindi. This lets you type Hindi words phonetically in English script and still have them appear in their correct alphabet. Note that this is not the same as translation -- it is the sound of the words that are converted from one alphabet to the other, not their meaning.


Gmail with IMAP

You now have the ability to use the IMAP protocol for Gmail (including
Google Apps) free of charge. Unlike the POP protocol, IMAP enables you
to keep your inbox synced across all devices, so that whatever you do
in your email -- whether on your phone, desktop mail client, or web
browser -- shows up everywhere you access your email. Reading,
sending, deleting and other actions you take on your messages are
reflected automatically and instantaneously any place you get Gmail.


YouTube layer now in Google Earth

The arrival of a YouTube video layer for Google Earth is really exciting. It's not only a new way to explore and discover YouTube videos; using Google Earth as a navigation tool, you can zoom in on remote regions of the globe and watch videos tied to that specific
location (for example, surfers in Hawaii).


Google Desktop 5.5 beta

New features in Google Desktop 5.5 (beta) include the ability to run
Desktop gadgets in iGoogle, a better looking Quick Search Box, and
improved Microsoft Outlook search functionality. You can use Desktop
gadgets like the virtual flower pot, wireless signal meter, and media
player remote on iGoogle.


Docs for mobile

Now you can access your list of documents and spreadsheets, and view
all of these Google Docs, on your BlackBerry, iPhone or Windows Mobile
device; iPhone users can also view presentations.


Google Maps Profile Pages

When you come across a map someone created or a review someone wrote,
the new Profile Pages in Google Maps let you hover over the person's
name to see a snippet of information about the author. Click on the
nickname to access his or her complete profile page, which aggregates
all the public maps and all the review he or she has created on Google
Maps. You can also customize your own profile picture and information
by clicking on the "My Profile" link.


Google Experimental

Now you can temporarily add these experimental features to your Google
searches: for example, see your search results on a timeline, navigate
using keyboard shortcuts, change how your result snippets appear each
time you do a search on Google, and a few other features.


Courtesy : Google Friends Newsletter

Hurdle for FII Bulls…..Well done SEBI

Well , making money is not as easy as the FIIs thought.

They have been caught because their bulls were running unexpectedly and our Indian bulls were not able to compete with them.

C'mon it is quite obvious……Rs vs $.

But anyways…..thank to the SEBI finally putting some hurdle for them.

Hurdle ???

I should not say it’s a hurdle, I should say putting some rules.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Thursday announced new rules for foreign investments through financial instruments such as Participatory Notes (P-Notes).

The market regulator has asked the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) to wind up P-Notes for investing in derivatives within 18 months.

SEBI announced the decision after a meeting of the Board, which also approved imposing curbs on P-Notes for investing in spot market. The new norms will come into effect from Friday.

In derivatives, FIIs and their sub-accounts cannot issue fresh P-Notes and will have to wind up their current position in 18 months, he said.

In spot market, FIIs will not be allowed to issue P-Notes more than 40 per cent of their assets under custody. The reference date for calculating such assets will be September 30, SEBI said.

The provision will come into effect from close of trading hours on Thursday.

Those FIIs who have issued P-Notes of more than 40 per cent of their assets, could issue such instruments only if they cancel, redeem, or close their existing P-Notes. Those FIIs who have issued P-Notes less than 40 per cent of their assets under custody can issue additional instruments at the rate of five per cent of their assets.

Well done SEBI !!! Being a TRUE Indian ,I liked it ……

The War Ends......

I'm good at convincing myself that I'm really happy when I'm not.

Well, I’ve been so excited for this World cup from the beginning.
Had lots of plan though I was not supposed to do those for various reasons.
Announced an open treat for GokartinG followed by Lunch , if Ganguly becomes the man of the match.**

**Eligibility criterion was to put Ganguly’s wallpaper on their desktop/notebook PC.[As there is nothing called FREE LUNCH ].

But we lost our first match against whom….I m not gona tell you that.
As I'm good at convincing myself , I did saying BLUE will win other two matches.

We won the second match….against whom…I m not gona tell you again.
I was very happy though it was not a big reason but still thought of sharing and cheering.So did with CADBURY among colleagues.

But now……

It's been nearly 15 days since the Cup began, but I think it was only after watching India lose to Sri Lanka and limp out of the tourney, that I felt compelled, or let's say, felt really awful and moved sufficiently to write something on the goings-on and close this world cup chapter from my side at least.

To get this out of the way, I'll say that it was a disappointing way to go out for the team, which had shown the ability to live up to promise, playing effective cricket without riding on sensational individual performances. As I watched the dismemberment of the top order, I was sad, even sympathetic, at what was happening. There have been so many occasions in the past, when I have felt anger at Indian losses, but against Lanka, the sense of helplessness that pervaded the batting effort could not evoke such strong emotions.

The most common comments that I've read so far are "the lack of accountabilityof the players to the people" and "players are interested only in making money" and others expressing the same sentiment.


I had always expected the team to win. Even when they got themselves into a tangle by coming out under-cooked mentally against Bangladesh. Perhaps I'm too lenient, but the first thought that came into my mind was that they had an off-day, and they would surely bounce back from it.

Today, I realized that I was wrong, not because they could not bounce back, but because in a tournament with the format this one has, off-days are blunders, and more likely than not, fatal.

Putting some snaps to summarize the defeat…..again !!

Still pretty broken.

The War Begins.......

Unfortunately, due to a number of reasons I have not been able to analyse all the teams, however, I haven't been busy enough to miss the opportunity to express my opinions on my beloved Team India when my Ganguly is IN. What follows is my brief preview of India's outlook at cricket's flagship tournament.

On the back of this talk, one would be led to believing that the Indians were shoo-ins for the World Champions tag. Don't get me wrong, I think Team India has as good a chance as any of going home with the silverware. However, in my view this World Cup is going to be all about the batsmen who have the grit and gumption to play the waiting game and bowlers who bowl less than express pace but have an uncanny ability to keep nagging away, ball after ball after ball.

The old heads will undoubtedly try their damnedest to ensure a focussed and lethal outfit stays on course. This tournament is ripe for Tendulkar and Ganguly to put everyone else to shame, for one final time as a pair. With generous help from Dravid, somehow, I think they might even manage it.

This version of Team India has a lot of talent, spirit and fight. They will need to display all these qualities in unison and with intent. I sincerely hope they will win the trophy and I also believe that they have a better chance than most.

My top 4 teams for the semi-finals would be India, Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. From this stage, it can be Team India’s World Cup.

Then comes the Man of this World Cup Series….Ohhhh , its quite Interesting.

Yesterday , In PanchMahal-1602 I have asked [Pravin , Vinay , Sekhar] to choose their Man….

Here is the brief :

Me : Vinay who is your Man of the Series…or lets say your Man ??
Vinay : Ummm…….Kaun ho sakta hai ???
Me : Its my question Vinay ???
Vinay : Kallis
Me : Ok , choose one more !!
[ then I looked at Sekhar and Pravin , they were giggling as I threw the next option because the name was not Ganguly ]
Vinay : Ummm…. Ponting
Me : Ok , choose one more !!
[ then giggling turned to laughter ]
Vinay : Ganguly
Me : WoW , that’s fare enough .
[ All of us laughed ]
Me : Sekhar , now you choose
Sekhar : Sachin , Jayasurya , Gayale
Me : Pravin , your’s
Pravin : Hussey , Sangakara , Symonds
Now it was my turn ,
So there I go with :
I thought of telling : Ganguly , Ganguly , Ganguly
But acted diplomatic and said :
GANGULY, DHONI, DRAVID
But still for BLUE [ The team India ].
Cheers , and feel Crazy Guys !!! It’s Team India with GANGULY

Google Babies............

Dear All,

In the six years since, Google's search index has grown to include an estimated 8 billion pages, and there are no signs of a slowdown. Obviously, with so many pages to sift through, finding exactly what someone's looking for on the Web is far from an easy task, even for google.

What say?

That's why google came up with custom search engine concept ( I guess most of you are aware ), where you can focus on a narrow slice of the Web, are sprouting up like mushrooms after a fresh monsoon shower.

Ahh so tasty!!

So I decided to create two baby googles.

For Perl:

http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=004877202797273863096%3Anl5aihdxnpo

For C++:

http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=004877202797273863096%3Aobmyk0ybj_q


Currently these babies have very less pages to search as they contain only those web pages which I found useful during my very little two and half years of experience.

So if you search something and they did not make you happy with the result, please do not make them cry, as they are baby…..:-)

But I promise that I will take care of these two newly born babies at my best.
So as they grow up they will be giving you the best results.

Feel free to evaluate them by comparing the results with mother google and keep sending me your feedbacks.

You can also help me in growing these babies.
Keep sending me the useful links which you may have collected during your experiences.
And I shall feed them to these babies. They are really hungry!!

I can understand your attachment with the mother google , but I know every one love small babies. Don’t you???

So keep googling in babies , give some rest to mother now.

Thank you, Keep googling!!
Pramod

Rocking Pod : Thanks Jobs.

Finally, A must eat Apple!!

Was always wondering, that these guys ( Apples’ ) are so smart , then what they are waiting for to deliver my kind of device.
I must thank Apple to deliver a device which I was looking for a year or so.
I was strongly against carrying two palm devices, one for music ( iPod ) and other for communication ( cell phone ).
Always thinking why not someone is just adding more stuff to this “Pod” to make it fill, so that one can carry a single Pod which provides everything, or close to everything.

And I guess Jobs read my mind and FINALLY……………..

Apple on Tuesday introduced iPhone, a new cellphone version of its iPod portable music player that its iconoclastic CEO Steve Jobs called among the company's most important products ever.

Thanks Jobs.

"Apple is clearly redefining the phone," Jobs said in an interview after unveiling the iPhone at the sprawling Macworld conference here. "People will not look at smart phones the same way again."

The handheld device, priced at $499 and $599, packs the features of an iPod, cellphone and Internet service onto a 3.5-inch screen. New technology, called Multi-Touch, lets consumers use their fingers to make calls, play content and troll the Web. The iPhone won't be available until June.

This is a revolutionary product that has the chance to really impact people's lives.Comparing the iPhone to the original Macintosh and iPod. This is the ultimate digital device I must say.
iPhone users will be able to make calls while viewing content on the Web and exchanging e-mail — at the same time.

Apple expects the all-in-one device — which houses Apple's OS X operating system and Google Maps, among several features — to make an immediate impact in the burgeoning market for cellphones worldwide.

Jobs predicted Apple will sell about 10 million iPhones, or about 1% of the worldwide market, by 2008. Oh…that is damn good.The iPhone could get more people to buy iPods , isn’t it ??? Buy an iPhone which has iPod inside.

The iPhone is certainly a looker: super thin, touch-screen, closer in appearance to a Nano than a Treo and combines a mobile phone, widescreen iPod and Internet capabilities.

Some features:

• As an iPod. Using your finger, you can navigate the device's 3.5-inch display. You can watch podcasts, TV shows, movies — and, of course, listen to music and audiobooks. You can also rapidly scroll through album covers using the clever Cover Flow feature on iTunes. But you cannot wirelessly download music purchased off iTunes. Instead, you connect or dock the device as with any iPod.


• As a phone. Touch a name or number in your address book to dial the phone. Or you can use a virtual onscreen keypad. You can synchronize contacts from a PC or Mac and create a favorites list of the folks you frequently call. A nifty visual voice-mail feature lets you jump to the messages you most care about and ignore others. And you can send short text messages using a virtual touch-screen "qwerty" keyboard.
  The phone works exclusively over Cingular's so-called GSM and Edge wireless networks — speedy but not the fastest of the emerging third-generation, or 3G, networks. It has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless capabilities.
  Battery life could be a concern. Apple claims up to five hours of talk time, including watching video or browsing the Web. Apple says you'll get up to 16 hours if you use it just for audio.


• Connectivity. Included is a full-blown version of Apple's Safari Web browser. You can sync bookmarks from your computer. E-mail can be automatically delivered, or "pushed," for free to you through Yahoo Mail; iPhone also works with Microsoft Exchange as well as other industry standard e-mail services. You can download e-mails in the background while surfing the Web.
  The iPhone also includes an icon for Google Maps, plus the light applications (found on a Mac) known as Widgets, for checking stock prices, the weather and other data you want at a glance in real time.


• Other goodies. The phone includes sensors that detect when you rotate it from portrait to landscape mode; the onscreen controls are oriented accordingly. Lift the phone to your ear, and the sensor turns off the display to save power and prevent you from accidentally hitting the wrong controls when on a call. Also on board is a 2-megapixel still digital camera.
  

Courtesy : apple

Google was miskeyed ? Is it ?

Hey Guys…..it was miskeyed “G o o g o l” as “G o o g l e”.

Gosh , can you believe this !!
This is not a gossip , but it is really embarrassing…..huh !

Friends , currently I am reading a book “The Google Story”.

Just go and grab your copy and start reading in your leisure.
I bet you will like it….
It is goddamn exciting , the google story.
I will not tell you the whole story b’coz it is better to read your own.

But just let me brief the name story of GOOGLE.

A googol is 10 to the 100th power (which is 1 followed by 100 zeros). A googol is larger than the number of elementary particles in the universe, which amount to only 10 to the 80th power.
The term was invented by Milton Sirotta, the 9-year nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner, who had asked his nephew what he thought such a large number should be called. Such a number, Milton apparently replied after a short thought, could only be called something as silly as a "googol."

Later, another mathematician devised the term googolplex for 10 to the power of googol - that is, 1 followed by 10 to the power of 100 zeros. Frank Pilhofer has determined that, given Moore's Law (which is that computer processor power doubles about every 1 to 2 years), it would make no sense to try to print out a googolplex for another 524 years - since all earlier attempts to print a googolplex out would be overtaken by the faster processor.

And here comes the laughter.....

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, named their search engine after the term googol. In 1997, Larry was brainstorming names with other Stanford graduate students, including Sean Anderson, and looking at available domain names. Anderson miskeyed googol as "google" and found it available. Larry liked it and the name "Google" stuck. Google's corporate headquarters is called the GooglePlex, an affectionately tongue-in-cheek reference to the origins of the company name.

Gosh !!!

Think before you Link -- Crap rules

Here's a lump of coal for the entire Internet industry:

A Texas judge has ruled that linking to a Web page violates copyright. Declan McCullagh News.com reports that SFX Motor Sports has won a case against Robert Davis, a man who operates Supercrosslive.com, a website which linked directly to audio files of motorcycle races on SFX's website.
Here's a question for the Honorable Sam Lindsay, the North Texas U.S. District judge who decided the case:

Can you have a copyright violation if there's no copying involved?

Websites regularly link to other websites. No permission is needed, and no laws are broken. A 2000 case established the legality of "deep linking" into any page of a website. Take away the ability to link and you take away the basic glue that makes the Web work. You'd have no Yahoo (YHOO), no Google (GOOG), no blogs.

I am still linking ( catch me :-)

Any Web user could figure out the location of the files, and if SFX wanted to prevent people from going directly to the audio files, a trivially simple change in its Web server configuration could have stopped them from doing so.

How does prohibiting deep linking (last major precedent was the Scottish "Online newspaper" case) harm Google or Yahoo? It is easy not to have your site indexed past the front page, and SFX would love as much traffic as possible to its front page.

Well,
there is a difference to linking to a page, versus pulling specific content on that page to an unrelated website.
For example, what if I could link to your blog which when the link on my website was clicked on it would open a frame on my website that just showed the title and body of your article, and lets say I was able to market my website better, and surrounding your framed in article was advertising I was getting paid for.

I don't think you would be too excited about that happening.....we typically think of links as something being clicked on and taking us to a destination, not brining that destination to the current site, that is where the theft or infringement is occuring...and hence why the court ruled as it did. A mere reference to a website via a link to that website is not what the court is looking to ban, it is the theft or infringment of significant content that is in affect taken from another website.

Have you not tried yahoo or google's Image and Video search feature? It does basically the same thing, provide direct links to materials from a site. This ruling is totally ridiculous, and Mr. Davis is acting like a moron for trying to go against well trained "sharks". If this isn't overturned anytime soon, its going to have dire repercussions for the net.

Really, if a website wishes people to not be able to link their audio or video files, then configure it to where this can't happen. This is as simple as this!!

Think before you Link........cut cut cut!!! Think before you go to court.