iVoice

Use the Gmail dot blindness to create multiple email aliases

2012-02-15T01:11:00.001+05:30

Did you know that Gmail cannot recognize dots or periods in email addresses or the user names - that means an address like paris.hilton@gmail.com is the same as paris.hi.lton@gmail.com or paris...hilton@gmail.com. All messages to these "different" ids are sent to the same inbox.

Next time you need to have a unique email id (let's say you are creating a new twitter handle) but want the mails in the same inbox, just play with the dots and you are golden.

How to be a jet-setter on Foursquare

2012-02-14T22:30:00.002+05:30

If you are getting killed on foursquare by your jet-setting friends, here is a hack to cheat your way into the leader board - Just use the browser to log into the mobile foursquare site here and check in wherever you want.

You won't earn badges this way but will earn points. Now you know never to believe my check ins.

And if you (like me) direct your check-ins to twitter, do visit pleaserobme.com too (thanks @stilly41 for this nugget).

Have fun, you have been liberated!

The One-Horned Indian Rhino

2012-02-07T04:01:00.000+05:30

I shot this majestic One-horned Indian Rhino at the San Diego Zoo sniffing around just a few feet from my lens hood.

I shot this handheld - with the Nikkor 24-70 at 65mm, f/4.8, 1/1000s at ISO 200 on a Nikon D3s.

Here is an official SDZ video about these beautiful beasts http://bit.ly/x2rfcg

Studio Lighting and How to Setup a Basic Home Studio

2012-01-24T02:17:00.000+05:30

Lighting is about controlling where light falls as much aswhere it does not. The following points are from my personal lighting notes.These will introduce the reader to basic studio lighting accessories and give afew product recommendations based on my home studio. I will essentially talkabout light sources, modifiers and kits.

The core any studio is made up of:

Studio lights – Sources of light (divided intokey light, rim light, hair light etc.)
Background lights – Which illuminate thebackground and create separation between subject/talent and the background
Light modifiers – That make changes to thequality of light (hard, diffused, soft etc.)

Generally speaking, light modifiers are all about controllinglight. Whatever you decide to do with your light sources, one most important thing is to keep a check onthem. As such, we can split modifiers into two main groups: soft and hardmodifiers.

Soft modifiers

Modifiers that soften light generally work by diffusingit - spreading it out over a large surface so that light rays are scattered.They are used anywhere you want to reduce shadows and make things looksmoother. Their number one use is for key lights in people photography. The most popular of these modifiers are umbrellas (alsocalled a brolly) and softboxes.

Umbrellas include:

Shoot through umbrellas - these are semi-transparentumbrellas that you place in front of your light source. They work just likeputting a lampshade over a lamp's bare bulb, you place them between the subjectand the strobe. Imagine that they "filter" the light like a sieve.
Reflective umbrellas - these are opaque, blackoutside and are usually silver, gold or white inside. These are placedopen-side to the subject, with the strobe pointed away from them, straight intothe umbrella. The inside reflects the light, scattering it in every direction.The various liner materials determine the color and quality of the light beingreflected.

Umbrellas come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny ones toones over 6 ft across, and are easily the most popular modifier you will find.Their main advantages are their small size, low price and versatility - you canshoot with a folded reflective umbrella for a very specific light quality.Their biggest disadvantage is a lack of control they give over light spills.

Softboxes include:

Softboxes - these are usually pyramid-shapedconstructions, lined with a silver material, with room for a strobe at the topof the pyramid and diffusion cloth at the base. They come in almost all dimensions,from tiny inflatable ones for speedlights, to huge, studio-only setups thatrequire multiple light stands to hold. Their biggest advantage is their abilityto control light spill and to accept modifiers. They are heavier, bulkier (evenfolded down), more expensive and take longer to set up than umbrellas.
Octas - there are two versions of theocta: either as a softbox with a octagonal shape, or as a hybrid softbox-umbrella,which is what I'll be writing about here. A strobe is placed inside somethingakin to a deep umbrella, then diffusing cloth is placed behind it. In practice,this creates extremely soft light as light is first scattered off thereflective material inside the "umbrella", then diffused again by thecloth. With large octas it's difficult to support the entire modifier off thefront of the strobe, so some manufacturers (Elinchrom, Profoto, etc) have octasthat mount on the light stand and allow you to place the strobe inside it.

Softboxes are what most people think of when they thinkof studio photography, so they make a good impression if someone's coming topose for you. Using additional modifiers, like a grid, flag or filter on top ofyour softbox can give you even more control.

The key in softboxes is diffusion, you don't need toliterally make a softbox, you can throw a bedsheet over a broomstick supportedby two chairs and you'll make yourself an excellent, soft light source. You canliterally make a soft box bylining a cardboard box with aluminum foil and pulling a sheet over it, but thecomedic effect while shooting portraits might be a bit too much.

Hard modifiers

Hard light is the default with strobes - that's what weget when we fire off a speedlite or on-camera flash. It is a small point oflight that brings out imperfections and coarse textures. Shoot it from the sideand it'll make a child look like they have awful skin. Still, it's extremelyuseful to have controlled beams of light (think: rimlights/hairlights) and it'sabsolutely critical in portrait photography.

There are four basic types of hard modifiers:

Reflectors - these are the standardbowl-shaped accessory that pretty much every studio strobe sold today shipswith. Their only use is to cut down light spill to the sides when using a barebulb (which is rarely done) and when using umbrellas or grids.
Grids - these are literally metal gridsof various thickness and density. The black tubes they form work extremely wellto stop scattered light rays coming from the strobe bulb, creating a thin,relatively soft beam of light. The density of the grid determines the qualityof light, while the size of the beam (expressed in degrees) is determined bythe thickness of the grid. Grids often also include gates, which are movableflaps on each side of the grid, which allows for finer, tighter beam control.
Snoot - a very simple construction, thisis usually just a slightly tapered tube of black metal. It creates a veryharsh, small beam of light.
Beauty dish - this is the most complex and - inmy opinion - nicest of the hard modifiers. A small reflector (usually silver,gold or white) is placed in front of the strobe, while a bowl-shaped reflectoris placed around the strobe. This creates a very even, hard light with anextremely sharp drop-off. Used almost exclusively in people photography, it'sextremely useful as a key light, especially for people with good, smooth skin(or makeup). As the name implies, it is extremely popular in beautyphotography.

General observations

Light is just light, and most of these modifiers can be(and are!) mixed and matched:

Grids on Snoots, diffusion material on beauty dishes,grids on softboxes (these are almost always cloth), silver backs for shootthrough umbrellas, etc. There are also tons of different names for everythingI've listed above, I just used the ones I'm most familiar with.

Three critical components of studio work that I didn'tcover as they aren't strictly light modifiers, but are worth talking over: Flags,Scrimms and Bounces.

Flags - anything that's not a light modifier that blockslight. Professional flags tend to be black cloth or paper stretched on a framethat has a small handle protruding to make it easier to place on a stand. Athome you can use pieces of black paper and just tape them where they need togo, or maybe black cloth if you need to stop a white wall from reflecting. Usedmainly to control light spill and keep down highlights.
Scrims - these are panels covered indiffusing cloth, placed where light needs softened locally. You know thoseoutdoor TV scenes where it's a bright, sunny day, yet all the actors are lit bynice, soft light? That's a huge scrim over their heads. At home, I just use apiece of white cloth.
Bounces - also known as bounce cards. Literally, anythingthat will reflect enough light to be useful, but usually opaque white, silveror gold material stretched out on a frame, but you you'll often see mirrorsused for this. Usually used in contra to a key light as a way of lightening (oropening up) shadows created by the light. The type of material determines thelight's quality, the distance from the subject and light determines the bouncedlight's intensity.

StudioNuts and Bolts

For lighting, I typically use background stands with eitherseamless paper or muslin.

Lighting is more subject dependant, but I usually will do a2-3 light setup. Usually I shoot with one key light, which is either an octa/softbox/umbrellawith rim/highlight being a strip box. I will recommend going through some ofthe online tutorials on lighting situations to get to your personalpreference.

Here is an itemized list of studio lighting accessories:

Background Support – Essentially two stands witha horizontal pole to support paper or muslin. E.g. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/buy/Background-Supports/N/4294550758
Backdrops – These are the actual backdrops thatsit on the supports. Choices are seamless paper rolls or muslin. Availableonline or at local camera stores. E.g.

o http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?atclk=Background+Type_Muslin+Double+Sided&ci=16284&N=4289246374+4289246420

o http://www.fjwestcott.com/products/backgrounds/index.cfm

Next are the actual light modifiers and thelights. I recommend starting out with kits that give you both the lights andmodifiers and later based on the type of shoot, buy individual lighting. E.g. Westcott, Elinchrom, Profoto

o http://www.fjwestcott.com/products/array.cfm?tbl=strobelites&catname=strobelites&head=strobelites

o http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/602689-REG/Elinchrom_EL_20751KIT_BXRi_500_500_To_Go_2.html

o http://www.amazon.com/Profoto-901053-Studio-Kit-Black/dp/B0020MHD4W

For Key you can use either a beauty dish,octobox/softbox or a shoot through brolly/umbrella depending on what type ofhighlights you are looking for. You can also buy all these types of modifiers intypes that will work with flashes too.

This should get you started on a basic home studio.

A Quick analysis of the new Nikon D4

2012-01-06T12:25:00.001+05:30

Nikon today announced the D4, the successor to the full frame (FX) professional camera D3s. It is expected to start shipping on 16th Feb, 2012 at a price of USD 5999.95

I have here a gist of key differences between the D4 and the D3s:

The D4 has a completely redesigned and newly developed Expeed III FX CMOS sensor (36.0mm X 23.9mm) which is claimed to be significantly faster than D3s.
16.6 million total megapixels of which 16.2 million effective.
10 fps (11 with AF/AE locked)
A redesigned AF switch that does not require you to take your eyes off the viewfinder.
The biggest improvement is in the 3D Color Martix III metering which has now a 91k matrix metering sensor
Illuminated buttons.
Ergonomics is much better. Vertical shooting much more intuitive. E.g. focus point moves as you shift from landscape to portrait. Also a redesigned shutter button.
New 3.2" LCD monitor with 921k dot resolution.
D4 shoots Full HD movies at 30/25/24fps with H.264 support.
Has a built-in wired LAN
A new WT-5 wireless transmitter was announced with 802.11 a/b/g/n support to be released on the same date as D4 (16th Feb 2012).
iPhone and iPad support for remote operation of camera. Most probably Nikon will release an app to control the D4. (Edit: Actually there won't be an app as I thought earlier, the D4 will have a browser that we can access from any iOS device. Here is a video explaining this.)
Newly developed shutter rated for 400k actuations.
Dual card memory slots - UDMA-7 CF and the fast XQD (yes the new XQD format! - 98 shots/10sec in RAW fast)
Also announced was the AF-S 85mm Nikkor f/1.8 to be released on March 22, 2012.

Here is the official presentation by Nikon in case you are interested in the gory details.

Nikon D4 Presentation

How to shoot photos on a budget with expensive gear

2012-01-05T04:49:00.002+05:30

Now before I write any further, I do understand that the real geeky photographer within always loves new photo gear. There is no joy more enjoyable than being able to lay hands on expensive hardware. And I will be the first to confess, I am on that same boat dear reader.

I love the smell of a FedEx box that arrives with my favorite gear inside. In fact I find myself frequently checking the package status on this nifty little iPhone app called Fara till the package is delivered. But alas! it is not always possible, nor makes sense to buy expensive photography equipment and that is exactly the reason, I am sharing my thoughts on how to shoot on a budget yet not compromise on gear.

A while back, I was with a friend who wanted to do an architecture photography tour of the downtown Chicago. Now he is an established architecture photographer with expensive lenses at his disposal. However, I was hesitant to spend money for a Tilt-Shift aka Perspective Control lens, for a mere few days I wanted to shoot with him. This is when I started looking to rent a PC lens from camera stores because the 24mm f/3.5D ED PC-E Nikkor was around two big Gs and I knew I did not have that kind of money. Luckily my friend had a spare lens and I did not need to get another one.

However during that time I realized photo rental is a great way of trying out new hardware before you plonk all those benjamins on one big buy. I mean, all the reviews in the world would not give you the feel for an actual session with the lens and the 3-5 minutes you get in a regular camera store is definitely not enough time to get comfortable with any lens.

Here is where companies like BorrowLenses.com really shine. They are probably the best gear rental online service in USA. I saw excellent reviews of them in yelp and did a quick search on forums and was convinced I had to try them. I ended up renting a Macro lens this holiday season because I wanted close up shots of my newborn son. Now macro photography is something I don't do regularly so I did not think I needed a dedicated macro in my camera bag. This Buy vs Rent decision making is something I encourage every photographer to do. It will allow you to try new lenses yet stay on a hard budget.

My experience with BorrowLenses was phenomenal. I got my two week rental on time through FedEx (you actually pay for the shipping and choose how fast you want to receive). As a bonus, they even extended my rental an additional week for no cost since they had a special running after I had purchased my rental. I was impressed with the customer service. Another important factor while renting lenses is the deposit. Most camera shop rentals require a credit card deposit or hold for the rental value. BorrowLenses does not. You only pay for your rental period and for most available gear and there is no deposit required. The do have a verification process for super expensive equipment but you kinda expect that.

The Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S VR Micro is a phenomenal lens. I loved the great circular creamy bokeh due to the 9 blade aperture diaphragm construction. And as advertised, it is a great portrait lens. Sharp as tack and not very heavy. Now my three weeks with this lens convinced me that I definitely want this lens to be part of my arsenal and want to save for that. Here is a classical case of trying out a lens which someone was not very fond of in the beginning but later fell in love. If I had not rented the lens, I would never know if I would like it. For those out there who like to read a more thorough/technical review of the 105mm Nikkor, you should visit here.

Here is a portrait I shot using this lens.

Shot using a D300s on a 105mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S Micro Nikkor at ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/160 sec

The entire rental for me was around 100 dollars and I got to keep the lens for three weeks. I was able to shoot nice closeups of my son as well as take portraits with a thousand dollar lens. Amazing isn't it?

So next time you are on a budget, your creativity does not need to suffer. Go ahead, and play with those lenses which your want to try out and you will find the keepers. When you decide to set sail, there is a link on my blog's sidebar that will take you to the BorrowLenses page. Give it a shot and let me know if it works for you.

SOPA Emergency IP List of Popular Sites

2012-01-01T01:20:00.003+05:30

I came across this SOPA Emergency IP list while researching the side effects
of a SOPA related scenario which I thought was something worth sharing.


Here’s how to access your favorite sites in the event of a DNS takedown.

        tumblr.com 174.121.194.34
        wikipedia.org 208.80.152.201

        # News
        bbc.co.uk 212.58.241.131
        aljazeera.com 198.78.201.252

        # Social media
        reddit.com 72.247.244.88
        imgur.com 173.231.140.219
        google.com 74.125.157.99
        youtube.com 74.125.65.91
        yahoo.com 98.137.149.56
        hotmail.com 65.55.72.135
        bing.com 65.55.175.254
        digg.com 64.191.203.30
        theonion.com 97.107.137.164
        hush.com 65.39.178.43
        gamespot.com 216.239.113.172
        ign.com 69.10.25.46
        cracked.com 98.124.248.77
        sidereel.com 144.198.29.112
        github.com 207.97.227.239

        # Torrent sites
        thepiratebay.org 194.71.107.15
        mininova.com 80.94.76.5
        btjunkie.com 93.158.65.211
        demonoid.com 62.149.24.66
        demonoid.me 62.149.24.67

        # Social networking
        facebook.com 69.171.224.11
        twitter.com 199.59.149.230
        tumblr.com 174.121.194.34
        livejournal.com  209.200.154.225
        dreamwidth.org  69.174.244.50

        # Live Streaming Content
        stickam.com 67.201.54.151
        blogtv.com 84.22.170.149
        justin.tv 199.9.249.21
        chatroulette.com 184.173.141.231
        omegle.com 97.107.132.144
        own3d.tv 208.94.146.80 
        megavideo.com 174.140.154.32

        # Television
        gorillavid.com 178.17.165.74
        videoweed.com 91.220.176.248
        novamov.com 91.220.176.248
        tvlinks.com 208.223.219.206
        1channel.com 208.87.33.151

        # Shopping
        amazon.com 72.21.211.176
        newegg.com 216.52.208.187
        frys.com 209.31.22.39

        # File Sharing
        mediafire.com 205.196.120.13
        megaupload.com 174.140.154.20
        fileshare.com 208.87.33.151
        multiupload.com 95.211.149.7
        uploading.com 195.191.207.40
        warez-bb.org 31.7.57.13
        hotfile.com 199.7.177.218
        gamespy.com 69.10.25.46
        what.cd 67.21.232.223
        warez.ag 178.162.238.136
        putlocker.com 89.238.130.247
        uploaded.to 95.211.143.200
        dropbox.com 199.47.217.179
        pastebin.com 69.65.13.216

Better SAAF than Sorry for Portraits with variable lighting

2011-12-07T02:58:00.001+05:30

Mixing flash with ambient lighting offers the photog, a dramatic control over the mood of the photograph. Nothing is right or wrong in photography. It is an art and well there is always creative license to break rules. However understanding technically the rules help us understand the side effects of breaking those.

It is important to remember that in situations where the lighting is a combination of flash/strobe and ambient provides us an ability to control each with the help of camera settings. In short, the shutter speed controls how much ambient light hits the sensors whereas the aperture or f/stop value controls the strobe light hitting the sensor.

A typical use of these values is to underexpose the background using a fast shutter and maintain a desired f/stop to control the light falling on the subject. More on the topic below in the Mark Wallace video.

Btw if you are a photographer who wants to improve and have not started viewing the Adorama TV's Mark Wallace tutorials, you are missing out on great info. Here is the link to an episode where he talks about what we discussed above - http://bit.ly/rEvU3m

Why we named our son Dwij - the seeker of the infinite!

2011-11-29T04:13:00.001+05:30

Dwij or Dwija means Twice Born or Born Again. This is a concept which came from Hinduism many eons ago.

The literal meaning of Dwija is "Twice Born".
So Who is a Dwija (Twice Born)? ... A Brahmin.
And Who is a Brahmin?.... He or she who knows Brahman.
What is Brahman?...That which is infinite...God

So in a nutshell, HE WHO KNOWS GOD IS THE TWICE BORN or he WHO IS THE TWICE BORN WILL AUTOMATICALLY REALIZE GOD.

According to Hinduism, unless there is an absolute change in consciousness and absolute self-purification, nobody can achieve God-realization. Without complete change of consciousness, it is impossible to realize God and vice versa.

Now which two births are implied here?

The First Birth refers to leaving our mother’s womb. There the fertilized egg transforms to an embryo and rapidly develops. Internal organs form and limb buds extend out; heart pumps its own blood and accesses nutrients through the placenta. In the womb, babies can taste, swallow and hiccup! We know they swim, stretch and frequently kick. Their hearing is well developed. The fetus thus extends its capabilities within the confines of the womb and as it reaches its limits, takes its first birth.

Our eyes open and what a fascinating, infinite world we are born into. We wean ourselves from our mother, learn to crawl, walk, bound and run. We babble, giggle, string words, compose, sing and write. All our faculties expand exponentially.

But even as kids, we find limits in our lives: physically and intellectually, in our ability to do and get things done; and philosophically, in understanding our purpose in this world and in the Universe. The aura of “conquering the infinite” is traded for “I want to be healthy and a good human.” But the infinite lurks.

Our scriptures tell us that each of us: woman, man, bird, animal, animate or inanimate, are ALL part of the supreme energy pervading the cosmos. The infinite Divine. The Upanishads coax us to aspire for this: You are that infinite!

When Yashoda peers into the mouth of baby Krishna, she sees the entire Universe, all births, all beings, there. Verily, the infinite!

The Hindu thread ceremony Upanayana is this initiation into our scriptures; initiation into the infinite. That WE ALL may transcend our human limitations by recognizing that the divine, the energy of the entire cosmos, resides within each of us. That we ARE a part of that divine. Scriptures guide us to cast aside our material veil, which binds us to our limitations, and be one with the divine.

That, our Second birth, dissolves our limitations and lets us live up to the expectations of infinity we see in conception. A Dwija is one who starts this journey – a seeker.

Object Oriented Hinduism - A Primer

2011-10-28T22:59:00.000+05:30

I plan to teach my 19 month old daughter and soon to be born second child the roots of Hinduism. Now to do so, I believe I need to go and understand Hinduism myself. Not from the perspective of what religious bias usually forces on individuals, but to take a more scientific, pragmatic and logical approach.

Part of this understanding is to grasp the notion of Origin of life as defined in Hinduism and specifically the reason the great texts like the Vedas, Upnishads and Puranas existed. In my research, I came across interesting similarities between a software designer's approach to explaining an architecture and the thousand year old (and more) Hindu scriptures explaining the architecture of life, society and general rules of a meaningful existance. For me, reading some of these great scriptures was like reading the great works of Knuth, Booch and KNR. The basic premise of describing a system using first a model, setting boundaries of semantics and giving lucid "implementation-esq" examples is the core style of all the preceding authors I mentioned. When I set about reading the scriptures, I would ask myself the question - "Why are there so many texts? What is the relation and is there a logical explanation for their existence?"

To answer that question, we will need to understand the scriptures a little better. I will begin by discussing the scriptures, leaving the topics around the Origin to a later post. In order to understand the fundamental similarities between a software designer's approach and the Hindu scriptures it is necessary that something be said concerning the Vedas themselves, the source of our information. The root of the word is "vid" - "to know:" hence the term Veda signifies knowledge  and it is believed that at first these books were not written, it signifies knowledge that is heard, or orally communicated.

The Vedas are not supposed to be the work of a single person, but it is believed that they were communicated to a number of Rishis or saints, who in their turn transmitted them to their disciples. The instruction contained in these writings is said to have been breathed forth by God Himself. At other times it is said to have issued from Him like smoke from fire. Sometimes the Vedas are said to have sprung from the elements. The accounts of their origin differ in form, but all agree in teaching that they were the direct gift of God to man; and hence they are regarded with the greatest veneration.

The Vedas are four in number: of these the Rig-Veda is probably the oldest, then the Yajur-Veda, then the Sama-Veda, and last of all the Atharva-Veda. Each of theseVedas consists of two main parts : a Sanhita, or collection of mantras or hymns ; and a Brahmana, or ritualistic precept and illustration, which stands in somewhat the same relation to the Sanhita as the Talmud to the Law. Attached to each Brahmana is an Upanishad, containing secret or mystical doctrine. The Sanhita and Brahmana are for men generally ; the Upanishads are for the more philosophical inquirers.

Of these Sanhitas, the "Rig-Veda Sanhita, containing one thousand and seventeen hymns, is the oldest and most important ; whilst the Atharva-Veda-Sanhita is generally held to be the most recent.

Now let's step back and understand this better. We have a set of crisp rules/ideologies that are defined in the Sanhitas as mantra/hymns. We have a Brahmana which is an illustration or rather a "clarification" of the hymns. Now for each Brahmana, there is a Upanishad which elaborate the mystical or philosophical side or in other words more contextual in nature depending on what generation of scholars are interpreting this. In software terms, the Sanhitas are Abstract Base Classes with specific behavior defined and others just highlighted. Brahmanas are more complete Base Classes that inherit from the Sanhitas. Finally the Upanishads are polymorphic Child Classes that depending on the context, implement behaviors.

To conclude this discussion some more tidbits about the Sanhitas. The Sanhitas of three of the Vedas are said to have some peculiarity. "If a mantra is metrical, and intended for loud recitation, it is called Rich (from rich, praise), hence the name Rig-Veda ; i.e. the Veda containing such praises. If it is prose (and then it must be muttered inaudibly), it is called Yajus (yaj, sacrifice, hence, literally, the means by which sacrifice is effected) ; therefore Yajur-Veda signifies the Veda containing such Yajus. And if it is metrical and intended for chanting, it is called Saman (equal); hence Saman Veda means the Veda containing such Samans. The author of the Mantra, or, as the Hindus would say, the inspired 'Seer', who received it from the Deity, is termed—its Rishi ; and the object with which it is concerned is its word which generally means a deity.

What I am trying to get to is an idea back in the days where there was a clear concept that either was given to man by Him (God) that is transcoded as a Sanhita. Now contextual understanding of this concept was left to the Brahmans who were thought to be the architects of society. The Brahmans described the Brahmanas (hence the name Brahman to those). Finally in the 5k years or so it is believed these scriptures have existed, the society changed, people changed and Hinduism included the ability to adapt to these changes by adding the contextual Upanishads that to more mere mortals were tales of example and clarity.

Isn't this how we have written object oriented software architectures and explained them to future implementors? We have defined the encapsulation, created the necessary abstractions, and left the polymorphism to future generations to take advantage of. Object Oriented huh! And would we all not agree that the issues we have with various religions in the current world are because they as not as adaptable/malleable to keep pace with current evolution of the human race? Hope this makes a bit of sense. I definitely would love to hear your feedback/

How to photograph toddlers

2011-09-29T00:23:00.000+05:30

Often close portraits of toddlers are a challenge. It presents the photographer a difficult choice of time and space. Time to click and capture the right moment and space to maneuver the camera especially if you want to use pro gear. One way to tackle this is to independently handle the constraints. Time to click can be managed if you have a remote triggering option so that you do not have to jump back to the camera to fire, and space can be pre visualized and designed as per the composition desired, so all you need to do is "drop" the subject in that space and be ready to fire.

In this portrait, I wanted to use natural light instead of a strobe. I used a gold reflector to force-reflect the natural light to illuminate her right-side more than her left. I knew I had to use a light meter to arrive at the perfect exposure because my D300s's built in meter does not meter incident light, it measures reflective light. (incident is light falling on the subject where as reflective is light bouncing off the subject). The right exposure for this type of shot was critical to get balance in the composition (where there was more light on the right than the left).

Also realized I would not have time to place Myra down and go back and click. Remote firing the camera made sense (used Pocket Wizards again for this). I ended up placing the camera low on the ground on a tripod and set it to aperture priority and chose a pretty shallow DoF. Next I took some test shots to check everything came out ok in terms of focus and DoF. Finally I placed Myra down and hoped she would respond to my hand waving to look up. Here is what I got.

Thoughts on Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility

2011-08-15T21:19:00.008+05:30

Though it may look to be a Google stride into handsets, I think pretty much their hand was forced due to the patent situation they face currently. Couple of situations:

(1) Moto's Sanjay Jha has at least on two occasions reiterated using IP as a differentiator (read use IP to become a patent troll). Techdirt published a piece months ago where the headline was "Motorola's Best Play Is To Become A Patent Troll & Destroy Android Ecosystem With Patent Lawsuits". Also considering Motorola is already embroiled in lawsuits with Apple and MS, while Symbian, BB and WebOS pretty much non starters at Motorola, the only place Motorola could monetize its vast patent repository is the Android ecosystem. This could lead to a slippery slope for Android adoptees and hence the Google intervention possibly.

(2) I recently read that there is glaring non compliance of GPLv2 source code disclosure requirements w.r.t the Linux drivers and kernel in Android. Here is an interesting blog post by Ed Naughton that dissects the core issue. This has a potential to damage existing adoptees big time.

With these serious issues hanging around Android, plus the Oracle/MS/Apple lawsuits ready to undress Google, it makes sense that Google would want to stop the hurt with an existing partner with investments in Android and also in the process get access to the much needed war chest of patents which it seriously lacks.

Understanding Beeemer Vs Bimmer

2011-07-25T20:24:00.002+05:30

The term "beemer" started as an acronym for the abbreviation "BMW," adapted from the early-20th century British pronunciation of BSA (as "beeser" or "beezer"), whose motorcycles were often racing BMWs. Over time, the term became closely associated with BMW motorcycles
In the United States, the term "bimmer" was later coined to refer (exclusively) to BMW automobiles. As such, use of the word "beemer" to refer to a BMW automobile is frowned upon by some BMW enthusiasts,[4] because it is the term used for motorcycles. Although the distinction is completely arbitrary, to this day, the media, movies, and most people still use the term "beemer" to refer to the automobiles.
The initials BMW are pronounced "bay emm vay" in German. The model series are referred to as "Dreier" ("Three-er" for 3 series), "Fünfer" ("Five-er" for the 5 series), "Sechser" ("Six-er" for the 6 series), "Siebener" ("Seven-er" for the 7 series).

Winchester Drives - The history

2011-07-14T20:15:00.002+05:30

The other day at Fry's looking for an external hard drive, the elderly sales guy kept calling it a winchester drive. I came home, googled the word and here is an interesting piece of info - "The original IBM-PCs, that had hard drives, referred to the hard drives as Winchester drives. This is due to the fact that the original Winchester drive had a model number of 3030. This, of course, was a then famous Winchester rifle called the thirty thirty."

River Glen Harbor Panorama

2011-01-20T22:03:00.002+05:30

Here is a panorama of the River Glen Harbour in Barrington IL. I stitched 10 photos to create this horizontal pano. Used Photoshop to create the final psd and exported it to a high quality jpg. I am using the free Clevr viewer here which is pretty cool if you want to share your panos. I would have liked to control the default zoom though. It somehow zooms in when it renders the panorama, so you have to zoom out (press the (-) on the zoom tool) to see the whole picture.

Now to the shot.

Make sure you zoom out completely in the viewer below to see the pano. Then scroll horizontally to see the image.

Panorama of Fox River Harbour on CleVR.com

Fat free, Sugar Free foods are not what they seem

2010-12-11T01:42:00.003+05:30

I have had arguments with myself on effects of consuming "diet" foods. In my quest for a sub 10% bodyfat, it is easy for me to lean towards the various sugar free alternatives of food and soda.

I know many people will disagree with me on this one, but I find these man-altered foods to be practically useless. So many people believe that if they make a dessert out of fat-free, sugar-free pudding, then it is "healthier."

Bullshit.

It may contain less calories, but what the hell is it made from? Have you ever read the ingredients of some of that stuff? One common ingredient in "sugar-free" foods is maltodextrin. Maltodextrin is a glucose polymer, and while it's technically not a sugar – it's still a sugar! So while your Jell-O may be "sugar-free," it simply contains a bunch of maltodextrin. A rose by any other name...

In my mind, healthy equates with nutrient-dense. Maltodextrin, sugar, and fat substitutes just do not fit the bill. So if you're going to have dessert, have some damn dessert! If you're going to eat ice cream, eat real ice cream. Make it worth your while.

I know a few companies, Hagen-Dazs in particular, have created ice cream based on only 5 ingredients – cream, milk, eggs, sugar, and a select flavor; that's it. I don't know about you, but I appreciate simple foods, not to mention actually knowing what the substances are that I am eating. Obviously, real ice cream isn't low in calories, but it's supposed to be an occasional treat, and you really shouldn't be pounding down too much of it anyway.

While I can't point to a litany of randomly controlled trials showing that these foods are problematic, I can point out correlational research indicating that they are. When people replace regular soda with diet it doesn't lead to weight loss, despite the decrease in sugar and calories. Diet soda has also been linked with an increase in pre-term delivery, increase in cancer, and more.

Can there be a time and a place for these foods? Of course. Should you consume them on a consistent basis? I wouldn't advise it. Maybe that's just me, but I simply prefer real food.

A String.split() implementation for JavaFX Mobile

2010-06-02T08:32:00.008+05:30

If you have been programming JavaFX mobile for any length of time, you might have come across the issue of doing a simple String.split(). In the JavaFX mobile implementation which is essentially a Java ME CLDC engine running under the hood, the traditional Java String.split() method is not implemented. Here is an implementation of split() you may use safely for all your JavaFX mobile needs:

Apple cherry picking cool tech from its AppStore

2010-04-29T21:36:00.001+05:30

Technology companies have for ages used the community to further their innovations and bring new technologies back into products. Eg RedHat/Fedora, OpenSolaris/S10 etc.

Now Apple has started the same albeit using their paid AppStore for that. They just picked up Siri a voice search app company to counter Google Android's voice search feature.

The App Store has a lot of upsides for Apple. Not only does Apple make a lot of money off of it, but it also lets developers do the heavy lifting for features that don't come on the phone by default, and then Apple can just cherry-pick the best of them to integrate into future products. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

How to find Shutter Actuations on your DSLR - Interpretation

2010-03-31T02:34:00.001+05:30

In my last post, I have given you the way to find out what the shutter actuation count is. You had a hard time to retrieve the shutter count, but what does the value mean? Is the cam still a teenager or already almost in heaven? Oleg Kikin maintains a Shutter Count life expectancy database. Users report their shutter count numbers and whether the cam is still alive or already trash.

While these numbers can give you some orientation, don’t forget to consider that a lot of factors impact the live expectancy of a DSLR: outdoor usage, storage or maintainance intervals. You should also be aware of the fact that shutter counts are not immutable. EXIF-based shutter counts can be manipulated quite easily, but also the firmware values aren’t immune: firmware upgrades or repairs may alter the shutter count.

Also An easier syntax for exiftool without find or grep under linux, windows and mac is
exiftool -shuttercount THE_UNMODIFIED_IMAGE.JPG

How to find Shutter Actuations on your DSLR

2010-03-31T02:24:00.001+05:30

If you are in the market for a used DSLR, you are well served knowing how much the camera has been used. Manufacturing date does not always give a true picture, since a sparingly used 2 year old camera is way better than a one year old wedding photographer's baby that has seen action every weekend. So you see an ad on EBay or Craigslist. The model isn’t top-notch, but still solid quality and was released 2 years ago. The pictures on the auction page of the cam look good, but was the camera really rarely used as stated in the auction text? Or are you making your bid for an over-used device that already suffers from abrasion “diseases” like wobbly buttons? This begs the question, how does one find out camera usage data or in other words, the mileage.

Unfortunately most of the camera manufacturers (except Olympus) do not have an in camera utility to give you an immediate answer. Also not all manufacturers actually enable some metadata information that allows you to get that info.

The Shutter Count measures the number of shutter releases during the lifetime of your camera. A shutter is a moveable device, that exposes the camera sensor to the light during the shooting of the picture. Roughly spoken, the number of shutter releases approximately corresponds to the number of pictures taken with your camera.

You are in luck if you own or are planning to buy a Nikon, Canon, Casio, Fuji, Kodak, Minolta, Panasonic, Pentax, Ricoh, Samsung.

What you will need is to run a small command line utility on a latest photograph taken by the camera and that would give you the count.

So first step is to install this utility on your computer/laptop. This is called ExifTool and you can get it here. There are Mac, Linux and PC versions available. A simple installation gets you the necessary firepower to evaluate a camera for usage.

Next click a photo with the camera and save that to a local folder on your computer. Open your terminal/command prompt and navigate to the folder where you have saved the photo.

Then run this simple command:

exiftool THE_UNMODIFIED_IMAGE.JPG | find "Shutter Count" on Windows or


exiftool THE_UNMODIFIED_IMAGE.JPG | grep Shutter Count

on Linux or Mac OS.
If a line like Shutter Count: 2999 appears on your command prompt, your attempt was successful. If nothing appears, your model likely doesn’t include the shutter count in its metadata.
So enjoy your new found power and don't let anyone fool you on the camera!

2010 Men's Hockey World Cup

2010-02-28T22:09:00.001+05:30

Just saw India blank Pakistan 4-1 in the Hockey World cup being played in New Delhi. Here is an embedded player to watch most of the games live on justin.tv

Watch live video from Hockey World Cup Live on Justin.tv

Java Implementation for BACnet

2010-02-26T00:12:00.001+05:30

Building Automation

This specification request JSR-60 is to develop a set of Java APIs that can be used to access and program building automation systems. The specification will include:

A Java based object model to define building automation software components.
Definitions for common building automation applications (scheduling, alarming, trending).
Definitions for BACnet objects (devices, protocol stacks, and network management).

The proposed name is "javax.baja" and it targets desktop, server, personal, embedded, card, and so on. BACnet stands for Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks. It is an American protocol to standardized building automation and control equipment from multiple manufacturers. Different manufactures have their own propriety systems that are not interoperable with others equipments. The end result is that building owners have often felt trapped, locked-in to products of a single manufacturer. The following lists BACnet applications:

HVAC Control (Heating Ventilating Air Conditioning)
Fire Detection and Alarm
Lighting Control
Security
Smart Elevators
Utility Company Interface

The protocol had to be applicable to all building automation needs. To accomplish this, BACnet specifies most all of the most common functions: analog and binary input, output, and values; control loops; schedules, etc., that clearly apply to almost any kind of monitoring or control application.

This Building Automation API specification intends to define a Java model for BACnet protocol. It is an API for programmable logic controllers (PLC) in building automation industries. PLCs are the control hubs for a wide variety of automated systems and processes. They contain multiple inputs and outputs, which use transistors, and other circuitry to simulate switches and relays to control equipment. They are programmable via software interfaced via standard computer interfaces and network options. Now different vendors can manufacture their products like controllers, gateways, routers and diagnostic tools in compliant with BACnet protocol.

Bangalore Fire kills 9

2010-02-24T00:52:00.002+05:30

Bangalore's Carlton towers for the uninitiated is the same building that houses TGIF on Airport Road and opposite to the Diamond District commercial complex close to the Domlur flyover. A major fire there killed 9 and seriously injured 60 today. Most deaths were people who panicked and jumped out. Hope all my friends working there are safe.

Also it was reported Fire fighters were delayed by peak-hour traffic jams when trying to reach the seven-storey high Carlton Towers, which begs the question, how many more lives need to be lost before a proper Emergency Response Infrastructure is put in place. Any of us who have lived in Bangalore for any length of time know the death trap Airport Road is at peak traffic hours. It is a pity that a city that writes code to manage most of the world's traffic and transportation systems, is living in 18th century designed traffic systems.

I know I sound like an armchair critic sitting in my cozy office typing off blog posts, but it is time we go back to basics to infrastructure development and town planning for the 21st century to make cities like Bangalore bursting at the seams with such a rapid pace of development and modernization, get a chance to be safe and habitable.

Monitor a search topic using Google Alerts

2010-02-11T02:26:00.001+05:30

I have often wanted to create RSS feeds for google searches so as to see when something new comes up. It is great for searching names, special events etc. Recently, I have started using Google Alerts to create a new alert for the search you with to create a feed for and edit it. Click the Deliver To pop-up and select Feed instead of Email. This gives you an RSS feed that can be either directly added to Google Reader, or viewed in any RSS reader you wish to use. Also just make sure you save and verify the alert first, then you can edit it to turn it into an RSS feed.

Nuit Blanche - For movie buffs

2010-02-10T02:49:00.001+05:30

An incredible example of effective CGI to create hyper-real movie scenes.

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

Why I sort of hate the new iPad?

2010-01-28T03:50:00.006+05:30

Apple delivered a bland rehash of its iTouch today announcing the iPad, a so-called netbook and kindle/nook killer. It is funny how quickly lack of innovation is evident in this industry. I thought the iPad was an ugly bigger version of the iPod touch. Here are some of the glaring omissions that will make me judge anyone splurging on this. Let's begin:

No HDMI (are you kidding me apple?), not widescreen (its like owning a letterbox tv all over again), no support for Flash will kill browsing experience (and HTML 5 is still 1yr away), and good luck with 2 finger typing unless you like being in fetal position for hours together. Ok what else? Hmmm...there you go, no camera, no multitasking of apps (no tweeting while listening to pandora), and the microSIM will make sure you are stuck with AT&T even though it is "unlocked". Also did not see a mention of any SD card slot, and also for sure does not have USB slots.

And not to mention the iPad jokes that are already doing the rounds. You can sample some of the good ones here.

What the hell were they thinking? If I had an extra 5 to 8 Benjamins lying around, I would probably save those for something better or till the rev 2.0 fixes some of these issues.

A panoramic photo, my first

2009-12-27T02:01:00.002+05:30

Here is my first attempt on shooting a panorama. I used 25 photos to create this pano. Stitched using Adobe CS4 photomerge. I shot this at the Fox River Harbour, Barrington IL which has a nice bend at the Glen Elen Harbor. It was freezing cold on Christmas Day 2009, but I realized how easy the D300s is to operate using gloves.

A frozen lake

2009-12-13T04:08:00.001+05:30

frozen-lake
Originally uploaded by third&long

As the bitter arctic winds moved eastward, I ventured out the the nearby lake and took a shot. Let me know if you like it. For more of my pics, plz visit my flickr stream http://bit.ly/7F8koK

Hidden Airport menu

2009-10-07T23:55:00.001+05:30

By holding down "Option" and clicking on the Airport wireless icon on the OS X menu, you'll get a lot of additional info. You'll get info about signal strength, MAC address, etc. The MAC address displayed is the MAC address of the base station, not of your Mac.

Have you tried Vudu?

2009-09-20T11:04:00.001+05:30

Vudu is an online service that provides streaming access to rental movies and other content. Two of the key attributes of the service are 1080p resolution and instant streaming (provided you have sufficient bandwidth). As a measure of the growing interest in broadband-delivered video content, two major HDTV manufacturers have recently announced plans to support Vudu directly in their sets.

Mitsubishi is now shipping two Diamond Unisen LCD HDTVs — the 46″ model LT-46249 and the 52″ model LT-52249 — that support the Vudu service. And LG includes support for Vudu on their LH50 and PS80 series of flat panel TVs.

As support for broadband delivery of content becomes a standard feature for more and more HDTV sets, this will only expand the interest and demand for these services. The adoption of broadband video content is accelerating rapidly.

Road biking for neophytes Part 1 - The beginning

2009-07-29T02:54:00.002+05:30

As I started looking for alternate ways to pump up my cardio, it seemed cycling was the best answer for a number of reasons. It was easy on my knees and joints unlike the 5k runs I do every 2 days. Plus no sooner did I start my research into road biking, than I realized that it was a very technical sport, at least as far as the equipment went. And by equipment I mean the bike, the helmet, the attire, the shoe and of course the lubricants (no not those you dirty!)

Now I am a person who loves the challenge of technology. I mean simple things will do too, e.g., I go to IKEA, buy furniture and love the challenge of having to assemble the parts with a basic sketch and maybe an exploded view. In my day job as a field engineer for software, I constantly have to work with new architectures and come up with technical solutions. Did I tell you, I learnt Football (I mean NFL) by playing thru' the Madden 09. So you get my drift. Like many of you I love to be able to figure out things and go to the bottom of technical aspects.

And so it happened one fine day. I had just moved from Comcast to ATT Uverse and surprise surprise, I now was able to see Vs HD which was doing a live telecast of the Tour de France 2009. I was hooked. However I could not understand why some stages had people riding bikes with disc wheels and strange pointed handlebars (the aero-bars as I later found out, but more later), and helmet shapes were different. Once the TV commentator spoke about the Cervelo test team with the Dura ACE gruppo on a Zipp 808 and all this was completely Greek to me.

And then, out of necessity, I undertook a painstaking 2 week research over weekends, exclusively using the web to learn the inner workings of how to buy a pro grade bike, how to build and evaluate different components, and basically all the technical details that a novice like me should know. In the next several posts, I will give you a tour of what the professional bike industry looks like and if you chose to build/customize a bike for race/training, what would be the best way to go about doing that.

What does a frame mean and the basics of what a good fit means when buying a frame. I will point you to building traditional road bikes, the aero frame road bikes, the TT (TimeTrial) bikes and all components. Wherever possible I would give links to references for you to do additional research. So stay tuned for my first experience with pro racing bikes.

Bench press correctly and save your shoulders

2009-06-05T04:30:00.001+05:30

There's an old saying that a lot of great bench pressers have
repeated when discussing the importance of the upper back in benching:
"You can't shoot a cannon out of a canoe." If you don't have the
underlying stability to press big weights, the soft tissues of the
shoulder joint are going to suffer the consequences.

Stability is affected by both neuromuscular factors and
positional factors; simply repositioning yourself on the bench can
markedly increase your strength without any chronic changes to your
neuromuscular system's ability to move the weight. Here's what you need
to do:

1. Line up on the bench so that your
eyes are about 3-4 inches toward your feet from the bar (in other
words, the bar is almost directly above the top of your head). From
there, retract your shoulder blades hard. Next, push yourself back up
until your eyes are directly under the bar; at this position, your
scapulae should still be retracted, but also depressed down toward your
feet as well. If you do it right, your rib cage should pop right up.

2.
Set your feet, and lock them into place. The position of the feet is
going to be dependent on a number of factors, but what doesn't change
is the fact that they need to be fixed in place.

3.
Decide on what degree of arch you want to use. For general health
purposes, it doesn't need to be much. Obviously, powerlifters are going
to need to push the envelope on this front. The more arch, the more
it'll feel like a decline bench press. Declines will always be easier
on the shoulder girdle than flat bench pressing.

4.
Grasp the bar and USE A HANDOFF from your training partner. Lifting off
to yourself is a sure-fire way to lose the tightness you've just
established in your upper back. Keep the shoulder blades back and down!

5.
As you lower the bar, keep the upper arms at a 45-degree angle to the
torso; tuck the elbows instead of letting them flare out. It's well
documented that the elbows-flared ("bodybuilder-style") bench markedly
increases stress on the glenohumeral joint. Also, keep your wrists
under your elbows instead of letting them roll back.

6.
Get a belly full of air and make the abdomen and chest rise up to meet
the bar as it descends. Think of it as creating a springboard for
moving big weights and, just as importantly, keeping those shoulder
blades back to save your taters from undue stress.

7.
Do not excessively protract the shoulder blades at the top of the rep;
you shouldn't lose your tightness prior to descending into the
subsequent rep.

7 habits of successful FFBs (Former Fat Bastards)

2009-04-25T10:53:00.001+05:30

If you’re not currently eating in accordance with these seven habits (outlined below), be sure to begin doing so immediately:

    1) Eat every two to three hours, no matter what. You should eat between five and eight meals per day.

    2) Eat complete (containing all the essential amino acids) lean protein with each meal.

    3) Eat fruits and/or vegetables with each food meal.

    4) Ensure that most of your carbohydrate intake comes from fruits and vegetables. Exception: workout and post-workout drinks and meals.

    5) Ensure that 25 to 35% of your energy intake comes from fat, with your fat intake split equally between saturates (animal fat), monounsaturates (olive oil), and polyunsaturates (flax oil, salmon oil).

    6) Drink only non-calorie containing beverages, the best choices being water and green tea.

    7) Eat mostly whole foods (except workout and post-workout drinks).

2 Stories

2009-04-24T07:53:00.003+05:30

Chicago's O'Hare Airport was named after Butch O'Hare, here are two true stories...

Story One

Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago. Capone wasn't famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.

Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie". He was his lawyer for a good reason - Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie's skill at legal manoeuvring kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.

To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but also, Eddie got special dividends. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block.

Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him. Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly.

Eddie saw to it that his young son had clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was.

Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn't give his son - he couldn't pass on a good name or a good example.

One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name, and offer his son some semblance of integrity.

To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great.

So... he testified.

Within the year Easy Eddie's life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street. But, in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he could ever pay.

Police removed from his pockets a rosary, crucifix, religious medallion and a poem clipped from a magazine. The poem read:

The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early hour.
Now is the only time you own.
Live, love, toil with a will.
Place no faith in time.
For the clock may soon be still.

Story Two

World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O'Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.

Wikipedia tells of the early life of Edward O'Hare.

Butch became the Navy's first Ace of WWII, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.

A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29.

His home town would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade, and today, O'Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man.

So, the next time you find yourself at O'Hare International give some thought to visiting Butch's memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It's located between Terminals 1 and 2.

What do these two stories have to do with each other?

Butch O'Hare was Easy Eddie's son.

Java RTS book preview

2009-04-16T11:29:00.001+05:30

I have been reading the book on Java Real Time, by Eric J Bruno. I have had the privilege of having access to the draft of the book since Eric is a friend and a colleague. I spent some time on the second chapter of the book which is a detailed primer on Java Automatic Memory Management aka garbage collection. He has done a great job introducing GC, and several different types of garbage collection algorithms including the latest Garbage First (G1) collector.

He introduces various real time garbage collectors as well and builds up to his next chapter where he talks about the Java Real Time System in detail.

This book is valuable for all java developers who are interested in learning the under the hood workings of the JVM.

Java for Google App Engine

2009-04-09T12:12:00.001+05:30

Google announced the availability of Java as a language for its App Engine yesterday. In the new platform, developers will be able to write their programs in Java (all this while it was python) and deploy them directly to the Web. And they will be able to move those programs more easily to other application servers.

See http://bit.ly/19ayxV and http://bit.ly/c3F9

Macro Photography Vs Close Up Photography

2009-04-05T09:02:00.001+05:30

My recent area of interest is Macro Photography. The term "macro" is used very loosely and tends to mean any photographic situation where you get close to the subject.

Real macro photography is where you are working around 1:1 ratio and closer thereby giving an image on film that is equal in size or larger than the subject being photographed. The range from life size on film (1:1) up to ten times enlargement on film (10:1) is be the strict definition of macro photography. The range from 1:10 (1/10 life size on film) to 1:1 on film should properly be called "close-up" photography.

Have you seen my twitter page?

2009-03-31T21:51:00.002+05:30

You can follow me by visiting twitter.com/ribnar here. I have been using twitter for most of my short thoughts and you can see all those at my twitter page.

Fixing bX errors for blogger template

2009-03-03T10:01:00.003+05:30

I found a nice post that helps fix the bx-* errors when you are fiddling with your blogger CSS templates. - http://bit.ly/BBwTq

If you don't know what I am talking about, you are lucky :-)

Did you dip today? And More on pec vs tricep focus

2009-01-24T13:31:00.002+05:30

Dips are one of the most basic exercises, and as such, often overlooked. In this day and age there is a preponderance of sophisticated equipment overflowing from most gyms. So dips easily get lost in the shuffle. But “don’t sleep on” dips.

Significant mass, muscularity and strength can be developed using this simple movement. Both the chest and triceps are primary movers, but there is a way to shift the impact depending on what you are trying to work. Here are the tips so you get the most out of dips.

To focus on the chest, you need to round your back and lean your torso forward throughout the entire rep range. This angle, creates a leverage disadvantage and forces the chest to “shoulder” the brunt of the strain. If you can’t “get it” right away, think about putting your torso into an abdominal “crunch” position.

To focus on the triceps, utilize the opposite protocol. This time the key is to keep the body upright, with the back slightly arched throughout the entire rep range. You should feel like you’re pushing yourself both back and up. As with every exercise, make sure to lower slowly and squeeze at the top of each rep.

CNS, Benching and Isometrics - How I improved my pecs

2009-01-19T12:01:00.004+05:30

I have always had good triceps genetically. This I say because without doing countless pushdowns, skull-crushers or kickbacks, I have decent horse-shoes mounted on my guns.

Now I realized about a year back that despite my regular bench press around 225 lbs, I have a decent lower pectoral and a stable mid pec (Don't flame me citing pectoralis major and minor and all that crap about a 2 factor hypertropy), I somehow lacked overall growth in upper and inner pec region. Now there were possible 2 reasons:

(1) I was not doing enough inclines presses, inclined dumbells (flys, presses)

(2) My strong triceps were doing most of the work during my pushing movement because my CNS was making my arms not recruit the weaker pectorals.

After I took care of point (1) with average gains, I strongly started researching point (2) and ways I could trick my CNS into recruiting my pecs.

Here are some of the results, that I think many of you might benefit from:

(1) In his book Primal Movement Patterns, Paul Chek states, “To create a new motor (movement) engram it takes 350-500 repetitions. But, to break a faulty movement pattern and then create a new motor program it takes 3500-5000 repetitions.”

(2) For instance if an athlete cannot hold the bottom (parallel) of a squat for an extended period of time with proper mechanics and muscle activation, how is this same athlete expected to add a heavy load and movement to this exercise without risking injury. If you cannot hold a parallel squat with correct mechanics and proper muscle activation you are probably not ready to squat dynamically.

(3) Isometric training seemes to be a good way to teach the body to unlearn bad habits (e.g. recruiting weaker muscles in my case triceps instead of pectorals). Iso=same, Metric=distance and hence this refers to method of training in which there is no change in the joint angle.

(4) In order to perform a movement properly, the CNS (central nervous system) must be prepared to recruit the correct muscle fibers in the proper sequence in order to efficiently initiate movement, stabilize the kinetic chain, and avoid injury.

(5) In benching a crude way to determine your "Sticking Point" or point of failure and corresponding muscles which fail are as follows:

Sticking Points result from weakness in secondary muscle groups. Where the bar stalls will pinpoint the weak muscle.

Mid point = weak pecs and/or triceps
Bottom = weak front deltoids
Lock out = triceps.

(6) Choose the grip width and elbow placement based on your body

Long arms use a wide grip to shorten the path of the bar (elbows out)
Short arms use a closer grip (elbows in more)

(7) Employ your strengths

Strong triceps? use a closer grip and elbows close to your body
Weak in the Delts? use a close grip keeping elbows wide

(8) Initially strength is determined by your nervous system and connective tissue integrity

80% of initial strength increase is determined by nervous system motor unit recruitment. A motor unit is a nerve and all the muscle fibers innervated. Heavy tension is required for the recruitment of high threshold motor units- these are fast twitch which tend to grow, (increase in mitochondria and supporting cytoplasm). Slow twitch become more metabolically efficient. If the impulse from the nerve is too weak you're muscles are weak the more motor units recruited have more muscle innervations and strength increases. Once that nerve fires once in the movement it will fire every time; this is called the all or none principle.

(9) When a motor unit is sufficiently activated once the entire pool of fibers contract. The central nervous system can increase the strength of muscle contraction by:

Increasing the number of active motor units (i.e., spatial recruitment)
Increasing the firing rate at which individual motor units fire to optimize the summated tension generated (i.e., temporal recruitment)
Both occur concurrently

(10) Read this great article here.

In general you will have to put enough thought to your workouts in order to get the maximum out of them. One size does not fit all.

Oh and BTW, did u start your food log yet?

BodyGuardz - The real deal in phone scratch protectors

2008-12-17T00:12:00.007+05:30

I have been burnt in the past with Incase skins on my 2g iPhone. First of all they scratched the chrome lining of my phone within a week and no amount of cleaner could undo that. So I was pissed. But you are what your technology offers and hence I had no choice. I removed my Incase skin and vowed not to put on any other fancy skin. But here was the result - I dinged and scratched my iPhone several times since (a) it was too slippery (b) the friction with the keys, and jeans pockets was too much. I resigned to my fate. So much so, I decided against buying a 3g phone since I did not want to slide my sexy phone into some rubberized hell hole and neither did it appeal aesthetically.

Next like a godsend, here is the video that changed my perspective. Now with my new found information about scratch proof transparent skins, I marched on to Device Outfitters in Woodfield mall to get "skinned". Device Outfitters are the first retail store for Bodyguardz and they have a stall (on the first floor right across C.O.Bieglo below and towards left of Apple store).

Here are videos of my conversation with Steve Wilson at the store, who not only did a great job, but was kind enough to give me an interview on Qik live. Find the videos here and here.

Device Outfitters do a free installation of the skin on your phone and also do a full replacement in case you are not happy with the final result. No questions asked. This in itself should be the primary reason the go get it done in person. I strongly recommend Bodyguardz and Device Outfitters. Go for it!

Kudos to Sun India team!!

2008-05-02T20:48:00.001+05:30

In this age of ePatriotism, most often I feel proud of India is when Dhoni or Ishant spin their magic and make the tricolor fly high in the ballpark.

However, since I moved to US, there have been numerous occasions where people have stopped me and asked me the recipe of Sun India's success. I hear more about India here than I have heard back in Bangalore in the last 5 years, and it gives me a sense of great pride I have never experienced before.

The eye-popping Q3 earnings has just put the proverbial icing on the delicious cake we are baking in India, or should I say the desi gulab-jamun!

I just had to let you guys know, this is totally awsome. Keep hitting the homers!!

100 seconds with Jonathan Schwartz

2007-08-08T23:06:00.000+05:30

Jonathan just finished his keynote with our team in the Sun Santa Clara HQ minutes ago. Just got a chance to catch up with him and clicked this memorabilia...More in the next blog about his keynote.

And again, as with my James Gosling photo, the able hands to take this photo was Harvey King, my peer SE from Taiwan with his ever reliable Nikon D70

Lifting light weights for high reps will "shape and tone" your muscles!

2007-08-04T03:10:00.000+05:30

This is the grand daddy of all training myths! Somehow the aerobics, yoga and Pilate’s community have convinced us that when we perform bodyweight exercises or light resistance training for high reps, our muscles magically take on a beautiful shape without growing or bulging. On the other hand, if you challenge yourself with moderately heavy weights, your body will take on a bulky, unflattering appearance. If you believe this, you probably still believe in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus!

Here are the facts. The main difference between a "lean and toned" physique and a "bulky" physique is the amount of body fat that surrounds your muscles! Basically, the "lean and toned" look that most people desire is a result of having muscle that isn’t hidden under layers of fat. And let’s not forget that the best way to build muscle is through strength training.

Generally speaking, this means challenging yourself with moderately heavy weights in the 6 to 15 rep range. It doesn’t mean using an insignificant resistance for a countless number of reps. This will do little to change your appearance. Remember, it’s the muscle on your frame which gives you your shape. Muscle also increases your metabolism which helps your body burn extra calories throughout the day.

Some food for thought !

2007-07-28T11:26:00.000+05:30

• If your food has a wrapper or a box, chances are it isn't good for you.

• If your food has ingredients you can't say, chances are it isn't good for you.

• If your food makes a claim that it's healthy, chances are it isn't good for you.

• If your food comes pre-seasoned, chances are it isn't good for you.

• Lastly, if your food makes any claims about fat loss, chances are it isn't good for you.

An Oxymoron for diet morons!

2007-07-28T11:17:00.000+05:30

Sounds like an oxymoron (you need to eat fat to lose fat), but when you concentrate on the "good" fats, that's what happens.

Let's say this together: dietary fat does not make me fat. We need to focus on the quality of the fats we eat, not necessarily the quantity.

There are three types of fat — saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Eating all three kinds in a healthy balance can dramatically improve your health and even help you lose fat.

Your saturated fat should come from animal products. You can even toss in some butter or coconut oil for cooking. Your monounsaturated fat should come from mixed nuts, olives, and olive oil. Your polyunsaturated fat should come from flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, fish oil, and mixed nuts.

Get a handle on your upper-inner chest development by adding extra tension

2007-05-31T15:37:00.001+05:30

YOUR CHEST WORKOUT has come a long way over the years. You use heavy presses, trade off between incline and decline moves and pound the pec-deck pretty hard to wrap things up. Heck, you even toss in some dips or push-ups at the end if you can still move your arms.

But there's an area you've neglected: your upper-inner chest. To accurately target this tough-to-develop region (and to undo that next button on your dress shirt, shame-free) requires a plan of attack that goes above and beyond your average cookie-cutter chest routine.

Which move would you pick to bombard this oft-ignored area?

LOW-PULLEY CABLE CROSSOVER

This is one area in which cables are king. Their constant tension allows you to tax your inner chest in a way that dumbbells simply don't allow. Crossing your hands at the top allows you to stress this area
through a greater range of motion, thus promoting more growth. BULLSEYE

How to reset the iPod video

2007-05-18T14:31:00.001+05:30

Recently, I had my 5.5G video iPod freeze on me during a video playback. Here is a tip to get over this problem.

For all models with a "Clickwheel" -- starting with the iPod (4G) and provided by all subsequent models with the exception of the iPod shuffle
line -- plug the iPod to the power adapter and plug the power adapter
into an electrical outlet (or plug the iPod into a computer), and reset
it by depressing the "menu" and "select" (the center button) until the
Apple logo appears.

Cardio and the fat burning range

2007-05-15T23:52:00.001+05:30

So I have finally started cardio. All the bullshit about me being fast-twitched and hence not doing cardio etc. has clearly failed. Having studied pre-contest workout regimes of top bodybuilders, I have confirmed that cardio is a must. However interestingly, it need not be a all out sprint that burns fat. In fact if you are not in the fat burning range, you will never burn fat. And here I will explain the fat burning range.

Your fat burning range is: [220-Your Age] x 0.75= Required beats per minute. So as long as you keep your heart rate at that level, plus or minus 10 beats per minute, you will be burning fat).

Triceps Dips Tips

2007-05-08T18:39:00.001+05:30

The following are options that can be used to increase the isolation of the triceps whilst dipping:

1) Keep the elbows close to the body

2) Use a narrow spaced dip rack as opposed to wide-apart parallel bars

3) Use a parallel dip rack as opposed to dip bars that flare outward

4) Keep the trunk vertical

5) Keep the legs straight as opposed to bending at the knees

6) Using a smaller circumference dip bar

7) Take a palm-out grip (this will mean the elbows go away from the body, but may give added emphasis to your triceps.)

What is Clenbuterol?

2007-05-07T01:07:00.001+05:30

Clenbuterol is a beta-2 agonist and is used in many countries as a

broncodilator for the treatment of asthma. Because of it's long half
life, clenbuterol is not FDA approved for medical use. It is a central
nervous system stimulant and acts like adrenaline. It shares many of
the same side effects as other CNS stimulants like ephedrine. Contrary
to popular belief, Clenbuterol has a half life of 35 hours and not 48
hours.

Dosing and Cycling

Clenbuterol comes in 20mcg tablets, although it is also available in
syrup, pump and injectable form. Doses are very dependent on how well
the user responds to the side effects, but somewhere in the range of
5-8 tablets per day for men and 1-4 tablets a day for women is most
common. Clenbuterol loses its thermogenic effects after 6-8 weeks when
body temperature drops back to normal. It's anabolic/anti-catabolic
properties fade away at around the 18 day mark. Taking the long half
life into consideration, the most effective way of cycling clen is 2
weeks on/ 2 weeks off for no more than 12 weeks. Ephedrine can be used
in the off weeks.

Clenbuterol vs Ephedrine vs DNP

Ephedrine will raise metabolic levels by about 2-3 percent and 200mg of
DNP raises metabolic levels by about 30 percent. Clenbuterol raises
metabolic levels about 10 percent and it can raise body temperature
several degrees.
DNP is by far the most effective fat burner but many people will never
use it because of the risks associated with it. It also offers no
anti-catabolic benefit. Although it does have anti-catabolic effect,
ephedrine short half life prevents it from being all that effective.

As far as side effects, Clenbuterol's are certainly milder than DNP's,
and some would even say milder than an ECA stack. There is no ECA-style
crash on Clenbuterol and many users find it easier on the prostate and
sex drive. This may in part be due to the fact that Clen is generally
used for only 2 weeks at a time.

Side effects

NAUSEA
NERVOUSNESS
DIZZINESS
DROWSINESS
DRY MOUTH
FACIAL FLUSHING
HEADACHE
HEARTBURN
INCREASED BLOOD PRESSURE
INCREASED SWEATING
INSOMNIA
LIGHTHEADEDNESS
MUSCLE CRAMPS
TREMORS
VOMITING
CHEST PAIN

The most significant side effects are muscle cramps, nervousness, headaches, and increased blood pressure.

Muscle cramps can be avoided by drinking 1.5-2 gallons of water and
consuming bananas and oranges or supplementing with GNC potassium
tablets at 200-400mg a day taken before bed on an empty stomach.

Headaches can easily be avoided with Tylenol Extra Strength taken at
the first signs of a headache. You may need to take double the
recommended dose.

Common Uses

Post-Cycle Therapy: Clen is used post cycle to aid in recovery. It
allows the user to continue eating large amounts of food, without
worrying about adding body fat. It also helps the user maintain more of
his strength as well as his intensity in the gym. Diet: Roughly the
same as on cycle.

Fat loss: The most popular use for Clen, it also increases muscle
hardness, vascularity, strength and size on a caloric deficit. For the
most significant fat loss, Clen can be stacked with T3. Diet: A high
protein(1.5g per lb of bodyweight), moderate carb(0.5g to 1g per lb of
bodyweight), low fat diet(0.25g per lb of bodyweight) seems to work
best with Clen.

Alternative to Steroids: Clenbuterol has mild steroid-like properties
and can be used by non AS using bodybuilder to increase LBM as well as
strength and muscle hardness. Diet: A moderate carb, high protein,
moderate fat diet work well.

Stimulant/Performance Enhancement: It can be used as a stimulant, but
an ECA stack may be a better choice because of it's much shorter
half-life. Diet: To take full advantage of the stimulatory effects of
Clen, Carbs must be included in the diet. Keto diet do not work well in
this case.

Precautions: Is Clen for you?

The same precautions that apply to Ephedrine must be applied to Clen,
although some people find ECA stacks harsher than Clen. It should not
be stacked with other CNS stimulants such as Ephedrine and Yohimbine.
These combinations are unnecessary and potentially dangerous. Caffeine
can be used in moderation before a workout for an extra kick, although
its diuretic effects may shift electrolyte balance. Drink more water if
you use Caffeine.

What else do I need to know?

Most users that report bad side effects and discontinue use are those
who use high doses right at the start of the cycle. The worst side
effects occur within the first 3-4 days of use.

A first time user should not exceed 40mcg the first day.

Example of a first cycle:

Day1: 20mcg
Day2: 40mcg
Day3: 60mcg
Day4: 80mcg
Day5: 80mcg (Note: Increase the dose only when the side effects are tolerable)
Day6-Day12: 100mcg
Day13: 80mcg (Tapering is not necessary, but it helps some users get back to normal gradually)
Day14: 60mcg
Day15: off
Day16: off
Day 17: ECA/ NYC stack

Example of a second cycle:

Day1: 60mcg
Day2: 80mcg
Day3: 80mcg
Day4: 100mcg
Day5: 100mcg
Day6-Day12: 120mcg
Day13: 100mcg
Day14: 80mcg
Day15: off
Day16: off
Day 17: ECA/ NYC stack

Do not take Clen Past 4pm and drink plenty of water: 1.5-2 gallons a day.

All brands are not equal when it comes to Clen, different brands will yield different results.

That about covers everything.

The lost art of "Refeeds" and the bullshit behind "cheat" days

2007-04-23T19:01:00.001+05:30

Refeeds are best used when interspersed throughout long periods of calorie and/or carbohydrate restriction. As the name implies, you're acutely refeeding nutrients (calories and/or carbohydrates) into your system after it's been deprived of those nutrients for a predetermined period of time (5 days, 7 days, 2 months, etc.).

It's important to distinguish between a "refeed" and just trying to rationalize going off your nutritional plan (e.g. cheating). Refeeds are strategically placed and when used right are integral parts of your nutritional plan. Cheating on your diet is more often than not an unplanned event brought on by poor planning or exposure to a situation in which your will power is compromised and you succumb to the primal urge to stuff your face!

Here is a simple yet very effective refeed strategy when on a low-carb diet:

• 5-6 days of low carb dieting (<30g/d)

• 12-48 hrs of eating high carbohydrates

During the week of low carbin' it, you'll deplete your glycogen stores and shift your body to using fat as its primary source of fuel. During your carb up, you'll stuff your glycogen stores full (and even a little beyond their normal capacity) and stimulate the release of insulin.

And though Insulin generally gets a bad name in nutritional science, it is a very potent weapon when used judiciously.

As a rule of thumb, the important thing is knowing when you've had enough. When you start feeling puffy and bloated and can even sense the fat coming on, it's time to go back to your weekday high fat/low carb routine.

Some Nutritional Notes I have made in my research

2007-04-21T00:44:00.001+05:30

—glycogen restoration is all too easy to achieve and may not be as critical as once thought

—protein synthesis needs to be the focus of our recovery intervention

—pre-workout meals actually enhance muscle blood flow and nutrient delivery during exercise

—pre-workout meals, nocturnal feeding, and multiple post workout drinks are more beneficial than a single post workout drink

—the "post workout window" lasts at least 24 hours and not 30 mins/1hr etc. as touted

—consuming a protein shake immediately after training hinders optimal results

—strength training acutely enhances insulin sensitivity for at least 24 hours

—whey protein is generally only moderate speed, while whey hydrolysate and pure amino acids are "fast"

—antioxidants taken after exercise may increase muscle damage and delay recovery

—aspirin and ibuprofen can prevent the exercise-induced elevation in muscle protein synthesis thus hindering growth and prolonging recovery

Wanna Start Dieting - Eat (and digest) this

2007-04-18T23:44:00.000+05:30

Recently I wrote a mail to my colleagues Priyo and Arnab on the science of diets. I am reproducing the text for that mail for general consumption. Note that before you start a diet, you have to know how much calories your body needs to survive (RMR) and how much you will need to eat to maintain your existing lifestyle (BMR). Not the simple trick is to eat above the BMR to gain mass and lower than BMR to loose mass.

What to eat, when to eat, how much to eat and how frequently, are subjects of a subsequent post. In this one, we will calculate RMR and BMR first. Here we go...

Here's a very brief, simple, and concise way to calculate caloric needs. This is the first step to your lifestyle revamp.

Step #1: Resting Metabolic Rate

Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the energy it costs the body to basically keep alive. This doesn't include the costs of getting your butt out of bed and moving around; those numbers are calculated in later. Although you might not guess it, about 50 to 70 percent of your entire day's calorie expenditure is a result of the RMR. So, let's figure out your RMR right now.

Determining RMR:

To start off with, you need to take your body weight in kilograms.

Next you take your percent of fat ( Priyo and Arnab, we can assume us to be around 20%. If you want to get exact figure, you might need to get a check at VLCC etc. for a caliper test) and multiply it by your body weight (which is now in kilograms). This will give you your fat mass (FM) in kilograms. Next simply subtract this number from your total weight in kilograms and you'll have your fat free mass (FFM) in kilograms.

Before we go on, why don't we try this out on me. Since I'm with a body weight of 200lbs at 20% body fat, I'd take my total body mass and divide it by 2.2:

Total body mass in kilograms = 200lbs / 2.2 = 91 kg

Next I'd multiply this kilogram number (91 kg) by my percent of body fat. Remember, percents are really decimals so 20% equals 0.2, 12% bodyfat will be .12 etc.

Fat Mass = 91kg x 0.2 = 18.2 kg FM

Next I subtract this fat mass number (18.2 kg) from my total body mass (91kg):

Fat Free Mass = 91kg - 18.2 kg = 72.8 kg

Therefore my fat free mass is 72.8 kilograms. From that I can determine my RMR. The formula for RMR is as follows:

Resting Metabolic Rate for Athletes (in calories per day) = 500 + 22 x fat free mass (in kilograms).

Again, for me, I'd multiply 22 times my fat free mass and add 500 to that number as shown below:

RMR= 22 x 72.8 + 500 = 2102 (approx)

Therefore my resting metabolic rate is about 2100 calories per day. Everyone have their RMR figured out? Good, let's move on.

Step #2: Cost of Activity

The Cost of Activity represents how many calories are required to move your butt around during the day. This includes the cost of walking out to your car, playing with your pet, driving to work, going to lunch, and of course, training after work. These factors make up about 20 to 40% of your daily caloric intake based on your activity level. So let's figure out your costs of activity. I'll use myself as an example again.

Determining Activity Costs:

Cost of Daily Activity is equal to the RMR you calculated above multiplied by an activity factor that fits your daily routine. I've listed some common activity factors below:

Activity Factors:

1.2-1.3 for Very Light (bed rest)

1.5-1.6 for Light (office work/watching TV)

1.6-1.7 for Moderate (some activity during day)

1.9-2.1 for Heavy (labor type work)

Note: Don't consider your daily workout when choosing a number. We'll do that later.

With this information we can get back to determining my calorie needs. I've selected 1.6 as my activity factor. Therefore the amount of calories it takes to breathe and move around during the day is about 3400 calories as shown below:

RMR x Activity Factor = 2100 calories x 1.6 = 3362 calories or approx 3400 calories

Costs of Exercise Activity:

Next, we need to determine how many calories your exercise activity burns so that we can factor this into the totals. Exercise activity can be calculated simply by multiplying your total body mass in kilograms (as calculated above) by the duration of your exercise (in hours). Then you'd multiply that number by the MET value of exercise as listed below. (MET or metabolic equivalent, is simply a way of expressing the rate of energy expenditure from a given physical activity.)

MET values for common activities:

high impact aerobics? 7
low impact aerobics? 5

high intensity cycling? 12
low intensity cycling? 3

high intensity walking - 6.5
low intensity walking - 2.5

high intensity running? 18
low intensity running? 7

circuit-type training? 8
intense free weight lifting? 6
moderate machine training? 3

So here's the formula:

Cost of Exercise Activity = Body Mass (in kg) x Duration (in hours) x MET value

And here's how I calculate it for myself:

Exercise Expenditure for weights = 3 METS X 91kg x 1 hours = 273 calories

Exercise Expenditure for cardio = 3 METS X 91 kg x .5 hours = 137 calories

Add these two together and I burn 374 total calories during one of my training sessions.

If you are not doing any training/cardio, your score will be zero. Remember not to cheat with these calculations!

Since my training includes about 60 minutes of moderate free weight training and 30 minutes of low intensity bicycling (four times per week), my exercise energy expenditure is around 400 calories per training day!

The next step is to add this exercise number to the number you generated when multiplying your RMR by your activity factor (3400 calories per day in my case).

So 3400 calories + about 400 calories = a whopping 3800 calories per day! And we're not done yet! (Note: I rounded 374 up to 400 for the sake of simplicity. If you're a thin guy trying to gain muscle, it's better to round up anyway than to round down.)

Step #3: Thermic Effect of Food

TEF is the amount of calories that it takes your body to digest, absorb, and metabolize your ingested food intake. This makes up about 5 to 15% of your total daily calorie expenditure. Since the metabolic rate is elevated via this mechanism 10 to 15% for one to four hours after a meal, the more meals you eat per day, the faster your metabolic rate will be. This is a good thing, though. It's far better to keep the metabolism high and eat above that level, than to allow the metabolism to slow down by eating infrequently. Protein tends to increase TEF to a rate double that of carbs and almost triple that of fats so that's one of the reasons why I'm a big fan of protein meals.

Determining the Thermic Effect of Food:

To determine the TEF, you need to multiply your original RMR value (2100 in my case) by 0.10 for a moderate protein diet or 0.15 for a high protein diet. So this is what the formula looks like:

TEF = RMR x 0.10 for moderate protein diet (1 gram per pound of bodyweight)

TEF = RMR x 0.15 for high protein diet (more than 1 gram per pound of bodyweight)

Since I eat a moderately high protein diet (about 100 to 200 grams per day), I use the 0.10 factor and my TEF is about 210 calories per day as displayed by the calculation below:

Thermic Effect of Food = 2100 calories x 0.10 = 210 calories per day

Now add that to your calorie total.

Step #4: Adaptive Thermogenesis

I like to call Adaptive Thermogenesis the "X factor" because we just aren't sure how much it can contribute to daily caloric needs. Some have predicted that it can either increase daily needs by 10% or even decrease daily needs by 10%. Because it's still a mystery, we typically don't factor it into the equation.

Just for interest's sake, one factor included in the "X factor" is unconscious or spontaneous activity. Some people, when overfed, get hyper and increase their spontaneous activity and even have been known to be "fidgety." Others just get sleepy when overfed ? obviously the fidgeters will be burning more calories that the sleepy ones.

Other factors include hormone responses to feeding, training, and drugs, hormone sensitivity (insulin, thyroid, etc), stress (dramatically increases metabolic rate) or temperature induced metabolic changes (cold weather induces increased metabolic activity and heat production).

With all that said, you don't need to do any math on this part or fiddle with your calorie total. This is just something to keep in mind.

Step #5: Putting it all together

Okay, so how many damn calories do you need to consume each and every day? Well, adding up RMR plus activity factor (3400 calories in my case), cost of weight training (273 calories), cost of cardio (137 calories), and TEF (210 calories), we get a grand total of about 4020 calories! (Remember, that's just my total. You'll get a different number.)

Hence my caloric threshold is 4000 calories. If I eat less that that, I will lose and if I eat more I will gain. Since we are trying to lose, we need to be less than this threshold.

Suggested is to reduce 500-750 calories per day to lose weight healthy increasing your spend on exercise.

Bodybuilding Myth #1: I don’t want to lift weights because I don’t want to get huge

2007-04-18T23:25:00.001+05:30

Just sometime back, at the gym fountain, I was speaking to an upcoming personal trainer. His primary routines are shoulders, and abs. Also he does very moderate weights and huge reps. His argument, well he does not want to grow big.

This one tends to be uttered mostly by women, but I have heard men say it also on occasion. It’s a pitiful excuse for not pumping hard. Very few people have the genetics to achieve even above normal levels of muscle mass, much less get “huge.” 99.9% of you reading this will be lucky to put on some muscle, and even that will take years of hard work.

It’s not like anyone ever woke up one day bulging with muscles they didn’t expect. And if you are one of those rare people who put on muscle relatively easily? Lucky you!

It is a complete bodybuilding myth that high volume low reps builds big muscles. In fact to get to a Tom Platz quad size, you simply will need to choose different parents. I mean for most of us, genetics will be the barrier. Next the amount of nutritional changes and alterations needed to fuel that amount to muscle mass is simple beyond most of us weekend warriors. In fact, it is best to use Heavy Duty principles coupled with sufficient rest to gain maximum results.

Should Girls NOT Lift Heavy?

2007-04-16T18:40:00.000+05:30

This has been a question of much controversy, not really for training professionals, but more amongst semi-educated workout enthusiasts. The answer lies in the fact that the average male has 10 times more testosterone than the average female.

If you are the norm, your fear of "getting big" won’t materialize. Having said that, I suggest you train within the generally accepted hypertrophy zone, which is 8 to 12 reps. We all need to gain muscle mass simply due to the fact that eventually our bodies will begin to atrophy with age, so the more overall mass and strength we have the better off we will be in the long run. To make a long story short, high reps of 20 or more, is really not as effective as lifting a bit heavier with the recommended number reps. Don’t worry, you won’t "get big," just better!

Compound Exercises that will make you a bulk hulk!!

2007-04-10T00:14:00.000+05:30

My top ten mass building exercises are:

#1 Deadlift
#2 Squat
#3 Bench Press
#4 Clean
#5 Chin-Up
#6 Shoulder Press
#7 Bent Over Row
#8 Dip
#9 Biceps Curl
#10 Calf Press

1980 Mr. Olympia - A farce Part I

2007-04-05T02:02:00.000+05:30

It is now fairly accepted in the bodybuilding fraternity that Arnold rigged the 1980 Mr. Olympia. He also had a major altercation with Mike Mentzer, and here is an excerpt for all who have missed the backstage spat...

"...That strain and tension came to an electrifying climax at the competitors meeting held the morning of the contest. Fifteen of the 16 athletes had signed a petition asking that the two weight classes be abolished and that the Olympia should henceforth be contested as one open class. The one athlete not in agreement was Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Whatever the rights and wrongs, facts and misconceptions, theories and myths that surrounded the 1980 Mr. Olympia contest, in the interests of this narrative, it's important to understand that Mike Mentzer felt he was cheated in Sydney, and that sinister machinations were afoot. His belief
is that certain forces, fueled by ignorance and sycophancy, combined to thrust an undeserving Arnold to first place and relegate him - perceived as owning the best physique in the contest - to a "ridiculous" fifth place.

This is how Mike recalls that fateful day. "There were maybe 50 people at the competitors meeting and, as usual, Arnold wanted to be the center of attention.In every situation, he tries to be the standout, and on this occasion,he was the only athlete of the 16 in the contest who wanted to keep the two weight classes.

"He said something to denigrate Samir Bannout that I thought was uncalled for. I passed on that, feeling Samir should have defended himself. As the debate progressed, there was a lot of arguing between Arnold and some of the guys. I wasn't really concerned one way or the other - I thought I could win anyway. Then Boyer Coe stood up and, as the gentleman he is, said, 'Why don't we let Arnold explain to us right here and now his exact reasons for wanting to have two weight classes?'

"Arnold barked, 'Boyer,let's talk like adults here.' That really irked me, because Boyer made his plea with no hint of malice. In addition, this was the IFBB's event, but here was this big Prussian son of a bitch standing there and trying to walk all over us. I interjected and asked Arnold why he was so reluctant to see the open class introduced.

"For some reason, that question pissed him off. He seemed like a guy out of control as he turned to face me, his upper lip curled around like a snarling animal. We were debating the issue of weight classes, but Arnold chose to snap at me, 'Mike Mentzer, we all know Zane beat you last year because you have a big stomach!'

"I was seated 20feet away from Arnold, who was standing holding court, and I perhaps allowed that comment to irritate me too much, as on impulse, I bolted toward him. As I approached him, I decided I wouldn't hit him, but nevertheless I was surprised when Arnold sat down: I scared him! He sat as I continued to berate him. Wagging my finger at him, I told him, 'Look, Arnold, Boyer Coe said what he did as a gentleman - he didn't deserve that response. You're the one who's acting like a baby, literally! Arnold couldn't look me in the eye. He went frombeing a frantic hysterical adolescent to shrinking away like an injured child."

Not for the first time in the history of bodybuilding, Joe Weider stepped in and defused the situation. He advised Arnold to accept the voices of the other 15. The debate ended as Arnold proclaimed, "I withdraw my objection."

Try eating a rainbow!

2007-04-03T23:12:00.000+05:30

What do I mean by "eating a rainbow?" Just think of the colors that
make up a rainbow and choose a fruit that corresponds with each color:
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. With each of your meals
that contain a fruit, choose one fruit with each color.

Which fruits correspond with each color? Well, if you have to ask I'll give you one choice for each:

Red: apples

Orange: oranges

Yellow: bananas

Green: green grapes

Blue: blueberries

Purple: prunes

This is a great way to stuff up great nutrients from fruits and also in key antioxidants. But remember fruits are AM food i.e. eat them early in the morning...PMs are for protein and fat!

My Fat Loss formula

2007-04-03T23:08:00.000+05:30

Eat six meals per day that consist of 4-6 ounces (150 to 200g) of protein with one green vegetable. Consume one-half serving of a good whey protein (ON Nutrition 100% Whey is my choice) before and after your workouts. Take fish oil (Omeg-3) supplements, spread throughout the day (Do not go beyond 3g of EPA/DHA).

I have lost approx 4 pounds of fat in 5 weeks. Remember fat not just bodyweight. Wanna have a go?

Ok So I am Injured - Lessons from the Body Transformation I

2007-03-30T02:20:00.000+05:30

Beginning a body transformation, or in other words, loosing weight in a healthy way is both an art as well as science. Now the science might be 80% in weightage, but the rest 20% of artistry, I will vouch, is a must. This is my second innings at body transformation, having done a successful Xform 5 years back where I went from 90kilos to a healthy 78 kilos in a span of 8 months. Well next I got married, got a life and went back to 95kilos again.

This time around, I have decided to not only loose the pounds, but also give my body a good set of muscles. And hence this time around, it is more a bodybuilder's plan. My goal is to have a decent physique by December 2007 and to be around 80 kilos with about 12-15% bodyfat levels.

I have started a self-designed regime on 1st March 2007 with bodyweight 95kilos at probably an obsend 28%+ bodyfat level. I did not have the guts to get a caliper test done. So initial idea was to loose 5kilos in one month and am happy to report being at 90kilos on March 27th, 2007 with decent progress.

So my aim not being a California Style Bodybuilder who just works out delts (shoulders), biceps and pectorals (chest). I have divided my weight training into broadly upper/lower body and am concentrating mainly on pectorals and quads (legs) for a overall weak point training.

I will in my next posts provide you exact routines and diet details but for now, after a smith machine squat session of 130kilos for 3 sets and 120kilos 5 sets, my back is injured. And it is not just sore legs but a really bad upper and lower back stress fracture with spinal injury. Not too alarming but still I guess my excitement of being able to squat 30% more than my bodyweight was shortlived.

But as I recuperate (off weights for 2 weeks), the diet is still as rigorous as I follow on my workout days. So I will now have time to blog about my first 4 weeks. Hope to give you readers, a exact plan of what works and what not.

The Next "e" is "s"

2007-03-29T18:56:00.000+05:30

The next digital revolution is actually social. Just look around you and see how the s for social phenomenon is gripping everything that is e for electronic. I am very sure the next millions of dollars will be made in the s-domain. Currently I am thinking of some entrepreneural ideas on the s-word. Hope to have something concrete in place soon. Some of the ideas that could be explored are:

(1) A social network of all Madhubani painters in Bihar and an auctioning site that directly links buyers to painters.

(2) A social portal of job seekers and recruiters who "socialize" and hire. Kind of taking features of Linked-IN and Orkut together.

(3) Taking content management to the next level and talk of social skill management.

Wow! let me add more meat to these thoughts in my next blogs.

Just tried the Flock browser

2007-02-13T15:52:00.000+05:30

Just tried the flock browser built on the firefox technology but is a true Web 2.0 browser. It allows blogging, photo uploading from the browser and much more. Don't forget to check out the flock browser.

Blogged with Flock

Exercise is for everyone!

2006-12-19T23:21:00.000+05:30


A good advt for cardio i guess !

Difference between Merom core (Core 2 Duo) and Yonah core (Core Duo)

2006-11-03T03:48:00.000+05:30

Compared to Intel Core Duo (Yonah), Intel Core 2 Duo
(Merom) has larger L2 cache, slightly deeper pipeline and added decode
and execution units. In addition, Merom features more aggressive
pre-fetch mechanisms than Yonah, as well as Intel’s Memory
Disambiguation technology that allows for out-of-order loads. In other
words, not only is Merom able to process more data at once, at a faster
speed, but it can also get access to that data quicker.

Overall, Merom may not be as big of an upgrade to Yonah as Conroe was to NetBurst, but the bottom line is that you get equal or better performance in every test without increasing cost or decreasing battery life. Owners of Core Duo laptops really have no reason to worry about upgrading for now, and waiting for the Santa Rosa platform before your next laptop upgrade seems reasonable. Those looking to purchase a new notebook on the other hand have no reason to avoid Core 2 Duo models, assuming pricing is consistent with what Intel is promising. There will be a delay of at least a few more weeks as we await availability, and testing and validation by laptop manufacturers may delay things a bit more, but within the next month or so you should be able to get a Core 2 laptop.

XBox back on track

2006-11-03T03:47:00.000+05:30

I was lucky to find out that the issue was with NFS Underground disk and not with XBox 360 system. Lifestyle gave me a new disk after I was able to show them the issues. Could replicate the freeze on their demo system. After the new disk, I have touch wood not had any freezes. I am keeping my finders crossed

Honeymoon with XBox 360 over!

2006-11-03T03:45:00.000+05:30

I got my XBox 360 last week thanks to my sweet wife gifting that for Diwali. I was like a child on a Chrismas morning all excited and ready to rock and roll. I invested US$150 approx in buying 3 games too namely NFS, LOTR BFME2, and Battlefield2. After about 4 hrs of playing, my XBox froze while playing NFS.

A quick googling sent shivers in my spine. It is estimated that over a million of the 3 million odd XBoxes shipped in the last year are reportedly having the freeze issue. I tried other games and it did not freeze yet. I will have to confirm whether my NFS disk is the culprit. Buy the reports online are really scary. You can read them at http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2005/12/microsofts_xbox.html

I am praying that I do not see the "red-circle" which is the synonym for the dreaded blue screen on an XBox 360. I will take a refund (bought it from Lifestyle Stores in Bangalore) and wait for PS3. Maybe my fears are unfounded, but certainly my honeymoon is over!

Interesting origin of certain idioms

2006-10-11T11:30:00.000+05:30

The phrase "cut to the chase" originated with the movable type for the printing presses. The letters were aranged in a wooden frame called the phrase. On the box were metal 'coins' that tightened the frame and held the type in place. When a phrase was completed the term "to coin a phrase" came about. The completed phrases were put together in a larger frame called the chase. Once the phrases were finished it was time to cut to the chase. Which means that the type was ready to be printed.

Explaining Human Behavior by defining the 9 planes/dimensions

2006-09-29T22:35:00.000+05:30

Often philosophers have used varied instruments to explain the human thinking. After all, the complexities of the human mind/brain are truely vast and unfortunately 2oth century physics has not yet created the perfect physical model to describe them. One issue that I am considering of late is the evolution of the human brain. In other words, how do we distinguish a person who is able to do clairvoince or tele-kinesis. Or how are some people able to see aliens/spirits. What is so special about mediums who connect with the "other-world". What is this other world? And how does one explain this in usual english? One of my readings talked about dimensional analysis to explain different planes on which human beings live. And I am giving a gist of what I studied below. Feel free to comment on this.

1st dimensional plane: This plane consists of only the single dimension of length. It is not advised to try to envision this dimension for it may cause insanity, seriously.

2nd dimensional plane: This plane consists of both length and width. It is not adviable to envision this either. The first and second planes are not the same as the fourth dimension and are uncomprehendable except by entities "living" in that plane of thought and sight.

3rd dimensional plane: This is the plane of depth. This one is easily imagined by 4th dimensional entities, because they are so close to it, and had just passed out of it.

4th dimensional plane: This is the plane that the entities that we call beings "live" on. It consists of the forward movement of time. It is the one we are on right now. The cross-over: This is a place where the 4th dimensional entities make their way into the 5th and above. It is often refered to as death, yet it is only a cross-over point. At this point, all knowledge of the 4th and below dimensions is lost.

5th dimensional plane: This plane consists of the backwards movement of time. Although considered impossible by 4th dimensional entities, those entities are only thinking in the 4th dimensional phase. Remember everything else from here on out is done in metaphysical thinking.

6th dimensional plane: This is the plane of clairvoyance. Remember, all of this you must assume, or no comprehension of the later explanations will be understood. Not much is known about this plane, except you "inhabit" the sense of clairvoyance.

7th dimensional plane: This is the plane of telekinesis. This is even less understood than the plane of clairvoyance, yet it does exist. This often thought of as "supernatural", when in fact it a real thing.

8th dimensional plane: This is the plane of perception. It is the highest any entity can evolve to. It consists of all the planes from five and up.

9th dimensional plane: God. Refered to by many, but understood by few. All cultures and beings, be it from our world or others, have this vision. God created all life, so all life lives by him. These are the explanations of all the dimensional planes. Dimensional planes are achieved by the evolution of the mind/soul/entity, which are all the same thing. Evolution is a continual learning process. As we evolve we understand more, yet raise more questions. This theory is to help those understand the answers to many questions concerning God and the "supernatural". One thing is assumed. We are not the only lifeforms in this universe. All lifeforms were created by God, and will evolve through the process God laid forth unto us. The universe is infinitely large, which shows God's power is also infinitely large.

Based on above conjecture, I set to explain common notions of this world by these 9 planes below:

Explanation of "Insane Persons":

An insane person is thought of as a person without the ability to think clearly and comprehend things on a 4th dimensional basis. They are not "insane". That is a term 4th dimensional entities give to those entities which are not on the the same thought plane that the other entities are on. Every plane is just a level of thought process. Evolution is a continuing process of learning. The "insane" persons of a 4th dimensional community are not on the same thought plane we consider ourselves on.

Explanation of "supernatural" powers

This deals with the idea of persons who are able to channel their psychic powers to do physical things. This also deals with fortune tellers and People who can see the future, i.e. Nostradameus. These occurances are also explained by the thought level that these entities are on. They are actually 6th or 7th dimensional beings stuck in a 4th deminsional body. Because 99.8% of the population of the 4th dimension only thinks in 4 dimensions, they are often considered "supernatural", "witches". The people who do know how to do these things have been concentrating all their lives to use this "super" power givin to them by God. If everone thought on the 8th dimension, there would be no use for a God. It is all a process of learning and comprehending.

Explanation of "Ghosts, Spirits, and Poltergeists"

This is about the simplest thing to explain. As I stated above, all entities co-exist in the same universe, for there is only one, which is infinite. Sometimes, 4th dimensional beings see things they aren't "supposed" to see. People are brought up with the idea ghosts are science-fiction, when in fact they are a real thing. Sometimes these entities accidently cross back for a few seconds, years, or minutes.

Explanation of Heaven or the Kingdom of God

This is fairly easily comprehended, if one thinks beyond the 4th dimension. It is but the enternity at the other side of the cross-over. What do you think the "light at the end of the tunnel" is? It is the "other side" or 5th dimension. People lose their physical bodies and are "able to fly" around. This also explains the angels 4th dimensional beings continually say are immortal.

Explanation of Immortality

Immortality is an easily comprehendable concept, if one thinks of a positive charge and a negative charge. When thrown together, they cancel each other out. This is the same priciple when you combine forward and reverse time together. After you make the cross-over, your mind adapts to backwards time, yet when backwards time collides with forward time it cancels it out. Therefore the state of immortality is reached.

The one constant

There is but one constant in all the dimensions. Plank's constant is only valuable in 4th dimensional science and so is the speed of light. There is only one constant in all of the 9 dimensions. It is the emotions. No one can explain emotions accurately. Emotions are the only constant of the co-existant universe. Think about it. Why do you think the "ghosts" are happy, sad, angry, etc., etc., when you see them. It is because of the power and intensity of the emotional constant. When emotions of the 5th and above dimensional entities gains great intensity, it then is transfered to all other dimensions.

That about does it for this post. That pretty much explains everything that I can think of dealing with the unexplainable. If you can think of any more, leave a comment below. I will ponder for the answer, until I can get a suitable one using this theory. None will be turned away. Who knows, maybe I'll get enough quetions to write another post.

Speak l33t?

2006-09-11T12:22:00.000+05:30

l33t (pronounced leet) is a unique internet language that cannot truly be spoken out loud or can be written effectively. It is yet a creative hacker-speak which gaming freaks most commonly used and made popular. l33t speak was relatively unknown to the internet massed till the very popular web comin Megatokyo brought the l33t speak into mainstream.

As you've already seen, basic l33t is just replacing vowels with numbers:

A = 4
E = 3
I = 1
O = 0

However
l33t is a very flexible 'language' and you can go from this very basic
l33t, to ultra 1337 by being creative; a few examples:

O = ()
U = |_|
T = 7
D = |)
W = \/\/
S = $

There
is no agreed-upon way to write l33t, so it's up to you whether or not
to go with light l33t, medium 1337, hard |_337 or even ultra |_33¯|¯.
In this entry, 'l33t' is used except when referring to medium, hard or
ultra '1337'.

For more information see l33t

Remembering 911

2006-09-10T23:57:00.000+05:30

A terrible and moving 911 emergency call from a person trapped at the 105th floor about to perish as the South Tower is about to plunge.

190 seconds with James Gosling

2006-08-18T04:26:00.000+05:30

I walked into the SCA cafeteria and found James in the drop-in zone. I had Harvey click me on his Treo 650. I asked him about doing a Java India like JavaONE SFO, Java CHINA or Java JAPAN. He was interested and wanted the local SUN team to take initiative and arrange one. Let's hope we get to see Jonathan, James and Scott together on stage in Bangalore

I am in Santa Clara, California currently

2006-08-16T00:44:00.000+05:30

I am attending currently our annual Sun Sales Conference in Santa Clara till this month end. It is an annual training that helps us refocus and internalize new FY growth targets and new products. I am missing my wife and hope to go on a vacation with her soon. Also Auggie, my St. Bernard is surely missing going out with me. I am attaching a picture of my family.

My Soccer Photo

2006-08-08T02:58:00.000+05:30

Here is the photo of me with colleagues after a soccer practice in Santa Clara.

Reclaim your Web! - Use claimid.com

2006-07-20T14:52:00.000+05:30

Yes Indeed, that is precisely what this site does. ClaimID is a great site for aggregrating all the scattered blogs and sites you might have created in several years. This is one place to collect an online identity for you. It is really helpful to remember your contributions and more importantly the url-s of several sites that are yours and might be languishing in your delicious or furl links. This site also has a verified option that verifies that the sites you collect are indeed yours. Nice touch. Try this site and you will never have to search for your web snapshot.

Ten Things to Know Before Buying a Video Card

2006-07-17T01:46:00.000+05:30

Selecting a video card upgrade can be an intimidating task. Unless you've kept up with all the GPU announcements and performance reports, it's practically impossible to know which cards are worth buying. Here are 10 things you need to know about video cards before shopping for one.

read more | digg story

World Firefox Day

2006-07-17T01:14:00.000+05:30

Are you a fan of Firefox? Want to spread the word to a friend who hasn't heard of it yet? If you can convince just one person to switch to Firefox before September 15th, you'll both be immortalized in Firefox 2.0's source code.

read more | digg story

AJAX - One step Closer

2006-07-07T20:33:00.000+05:30

An introduction to AJAX, explaining the technologies (at 30k ft), but giving more examples and a general feel of what it takes to build a Web 2.0 application.

This is typically intended to be a non geeky, non-technical affair.

powered by ODEO

Great Zidane inspired Remix! U'll love it

2006-07-07T15:15:00.000+05:30

Zidane is going to take France to the World Cup glory and this audio is a celebration of Zizou!!

powered by ODEO

And here is the original song, which I must confess is absolutely mindblowing club stuff ...

powered by ODEO

External USB HDD troubleshooting

2006-06-24T19:18:00.000+05:30

I just bought a Seagate Barracuda 400 GB internal HDD and created a external USB drive by enclosing it in a USB casing. However once I plugged the HDD in my laptop, I did not see my Drive listed in the My Computer window, though the regular messages like "A High-Speed USB drive has been connected to your computer", and " "Your hardware is ready for use", were shown, but it did not appear in the Device Manager list. I was worried as this mechanism of converting an internal HDD into an external USB one was supposed to be plug-n-play. A little bit of googling game me the solution which I provide the below:

Solution: Right-click on My Computer. Select Manage in the pop-up menu. In the Computer Management window, select Storage, then select Disk Management. In the Disk Management window, you should see a list of available storage devices. Look for the Disk that has a capacity closest to your External Hard Drive. Right-click on the right-hand box; in the pop-up menu select Delete Partition. Once you do this, it will say “Online" & "Unallocated”. Right-click on the box and select Create New Partition in the pop-up menu. When the Partition Wizard appears, select Primary Partition and click on Next. You will see a default value for the Drive; click Next. You will then see a drive letter (you can change this drive letter if you wish); click Next. You will then be asked to format the Drive. Once done, you are good to go.

Google Launches Spreadsheets on a Limited Trial Basis

2006-06-07T13:02:00.000+05:30

I just got an invite to try out the Google spreadsheet beta. I have attached a screenshot for the same. You can sign up for the great online app here Hurry! this is a limited availability signup on a first-come-first-served basis.

Google spreadsheets works quite seemlessly and there was no noticeable lags in-between editing, and the multi-user editing is great. The look and feel is that of Excel, but Google-branded and webified. There are less icons, less menu entries, and there is also only the most needed functionality. Your files can be exported into several formats (Excel, CSV, and HTML).

After Google announced aquisition of Writely, a web based Word processing applications company, it is clear that the Google Office is clearly becoming a reality. Great news for online afficianados and at the end of it all, it is the consumer who is the winner.

Open Internet Explorer from inside Firefox as a Tab

2006-06-06T16:56:00.000+05:30

As a Firefox user,often people face situations, where, in the middle of their browsing, they hit a site which is designed for MS Internet Explorer. It can be your payroll site outsourced, or a MS Windows update site. It becomes a pain to relaunch IE and sometimes just out of sheer laziness, you pass up the chance to get into these sites.

Despair no more!... 'coz here is a cool Firefox plugin that allows you to open IE as a tab from inside Firefox. You can choose to open these links in IE without having to go and launch IE seperately and copy and paste the URL.
The extension is called "IE Tab Options" and you can download it here

Just choose to open the site in IE right from Firefox. Hey this is a age of participation and we should try and maximize our browsing experience rather than get into ugly browser wars.

Nikon Coolpix S6 Wireless Review

2006-06-02T21:11:00.000+05:30

The Nikon Coolpix S6 is dressed in a sand-textured metallic black body, highlighted by rich-looking chrome sides. The camera is flat on the back, but has a slight wave on the front to accommodate the internal 3X zoom. Although it offers a 6-megapixel resolution in an ultra-thin body, the Nikon Coolpix S6 stands out for two other features: a 3-inch LCD monitor, and built-in WiFi that allows the camera to hook-up to either a wireless access point, or directly to a wireless capable computer.

read more | digg story

I got my new gizmo - Sony VAIO SZ18GP

2006-05-28T21:05:00.000+05:30

Just bought the latest of Sony ultraportables, the VGN-SZ18GP. This is what Sony calls the SZ "premium" series.

General info about the Sony SZ line:

Sony's SZ notebooks are divided into two major categories, "Regular" (Sony just calls them "SZ", but "Regular" is used here for clarity) and Premium:

* Regular SZ notebooks have magnesium bodies, weigh 4.1 lbs, and offer a manufacturer-estimated 5.5 - 6 hours of battery life.

* Premium SZ notebooks have carbon-fiber bodies, weigh 3.7 lbs, and offer a manufacturer-estimated 6 - 7 hours of battery life. They use a different type of LCD screen and backlight, resulting in an ultrathin screen (4.5mm thick) that supposedly looks better than the Regular type -- but the Regular screen already seems thin enough and bright enough, so the Premium one may be more of a luxury than a necessity.

The two types are otherwise the same. For more details, see Sony's SZ comparison page.

Key Features that made me buy this laptop:

It has an internal optical drive (a dual-layer burner, no less); a regular full-size keyboard; a 13.3" widescreen display; both a PC Card slot (which I use for EV-DO wireless Internet) and an ExpressCard/34 slot (which may soon gain popularity); 802.11a/b/g WiFi; Bluetooth; FireWire; a multi-card reader; a webcam; a fingerprint reader; and to seal the deal, a unique Hybrid Graphics System that allows the user to switch between an Intel integrated graphics card and a discrete NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 card.

SZ-18GP Specs as I have:
* Dimensions: 12.5" (W) x 1.0" -1.5" (H) x 9.3" (D)
* Weight: 1.69 Kgs. with standard battery
* CPU: Intel Core Duo Processor T2400 1.83GHz
* Memory: 1GB DDR2 PC2-4200 533MHz (upgradable to 2GB)
* Hard Drive: 100GB 5400rpm SATA drive with G-Sensor Shock Protection
* Optical Drive: Dual-layer, dual-format DVD RW DL internal drive with max 8x read speed and 4x write speed
* Display: 13.3" WXGA 1280x800 XBRITE widescreen glossy LCD
* Graphics 1: (A built-in switch toggles between the two graphics cards) Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with 128MB Shared Memory
* Graphics 2: (A built-in switch toggles between the two graphics cards) NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 with 128MB Dedicated Memory
* Audio: Sony Sound Reality Audio Enhancer
* Wireless LAN (WiFi): Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g)
* Bluetooth: Integrated Toshiba Bluetooth technology
* Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition with Service Pack 2 (the CD is not included)
* Battery: Standard-capacity lithium-ion battery with estimated life of 2.5 to 5.5 hours
* Power Requirement: 105W+10%
* Keyboard: 86-key full-size keyboard with 3mm stroke and 19.05mm pitch
* Pointing Device: Electro-static touchpad with two buttons and vertical & horizontal scroll areas
* Webcam: Built-in webcam and microphone
* Security: Fingerprint scanner
* Ports:
o 1x Memory Stick Duo Pro MagicGate
o 1x PC Card (PCMCIA Type II)
o 1x VGA output
o 1x iLink/FireWire/IEEE 1394
o 1x headphone output
o 1x microphone input
o 1x V.90 Modem (RJ-11)
o 1x 10/100 Fast Ethernet (RJ-45) (no Gigabit Ethernet)
o 2x USB 2.0
o 1x ExpressCard/34
o 1x DC-in (for power)
o 1x Port Replicator Connector
* Card Reader: 4-in-1 xD/SD/MMC/MS Pro flash media reader card that uses the ExpressCard/34 slot.
* Service & Support: 1-year Limited Warranty, 1-year toll-free 24/7 telephone support
* Installed Software: Microsoft Windows XP Pro Edition with SP2, VAIO Security Center, VAIO Update software, VAIO Recovery Wizard software, VAIO Support Central, Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition, Intuit, InterVideo WinDVD, Roxio DigitalMedia SE, Click to DVD - DVD Creation, DVgate Plus - Digital Video, SonicStage Mastering Studio - Audio Mastering and Remastering, SonicStage - Digital Music to name the major ones.

After you have bought the SZ:

There are minor niggles with the SZ series and here is a great place to know these and the hotfixes.

You can hear the PDF instead of reading

2006-05-25T15:29:00.000+05:30

Fed up of reading.. you can try this...

You can listen to any PDF instead of reading, yes it is possible with Adobe Reader 7 .0 or 6.0, and the short cut is Ctrl+shift+b -to hear the entire Document (Menu - view -> Read out Loud -> Read to the End of Document)

Ctrl+shift+v -to hear the page (Menu - view -> Read out Loud -> Read This Page) If it is not convenient to hear, because the voice is very fast, u can adjust that using the Voice Speed -> slow adjustment in the Control Panel ->SPEECH

My 2006 Birthay Snaps

2006-05-24T20:12:00.000+05:30

One of the photos of my 31st Birthday this 2006. I am in the light blue shirt and along with me is Sanju.

We went to Windsor Sheraton in Bangalore for a buffet dinner along with my wife her bro and couple of common friends.

Photo Hosting Links - III of III

2006-05-24T20:10:00.000+05:30

http://www.softlab.ece.ntua.gr/~sivann/pub/upload.php (20MB video-files)
http://www.putfile.com/
http://www.ihostphotos.com/index.php
http://www.pixpond.com/
http://www.imageark.net/
http://www.picvault.info/
http://www.filehosting.org/
http://dump.grendosa.com/ (register requirement)
http://www.dropload.com/ (register requirement, will be deleted in 7 days)
http://www.kazimages.com/
http://www.myfileshack.com/ (register requirement)
http://www.updownloadserver.de/
http://www.bulkimagehost.com/ (gif, jpg, png 1MB)
http://www.imgspot.com/ (jpg, gif, png 650KB)
http://www.imgsatellite.com/ (jpg, png, gif, bmp, tiff)
http://www.kytec.com (50MB all filtypes) (down for maintenance)
http://s2.youshareit.com/ (similar to yousendit)
http://imagehost.bizhat.com/ (gif, jpg, png 150KB)
http://www.image-upload.com/
http://kefo.mine.nu/FileUploader/upload.php
http://www.uploadyourimages.com/
http://ruff.se/upload.php
http://www.parkyourpic.com/
http://auctionphotobank.com/index.php (gif, jpeg, jpg, png 350KB)
http://www.upvolt.com/ (jpg, jpeg, gif, png, txt, bmp, psd, mov, wmv, mpg, mpeg, mp3 1024KB)
http://www.yourimagelink.com/ (gif, jpg, png 100KB)
http://www.uploadtemple.com/ (30MB)
http://www.sharebigfile.com/ (100MB)
http://www.picshack.co.uk/
http://www.uploadnext.com/ (1.5MB)
http://www.imagemonster.org/
http://www.freeupload.net/
http://www.picsplace.to/
http://www.myimagedepot.com/
http://www.glamdring.se/ - registration required

Photo Hosting Links - II of III

2006-05-24T20:09:00.000+05:30

More links ...

http://www.flypicture.com/
http://www.refrozen.com/
http://www.uploadimages.net/index.php
http://upl.silentwhisper.net/ (register requirement)
http://www.thefilebucket.com/ (register requirement)
http://www.filesupload.com/ (register requirement)
http://www.iuploads.com/free_image_hosting/ (register requirement)
http://www.myimagestore.info/upload
http://www.imagevenue.com
http://tinypic.com
http://www.imgboot.com
http://www.myimagestore.info/upload/
http://www.xull.org/ (down)
http://www.imagebarrel.com/
http://www.superimagehost.com/free.upload.php
http://www.imgspot.com/
http://imagehost.5gigs.com/ (down)
http://www.image.sc/
http://www.imageshosted.com/
http://www.mindsurge.net/pichost/upload.php (down)
http://www.imgsatellite.com/
http://www.imageuploader.net/index.php
http://www.2and2.net/index.php?i=upload

contd. in the next post

Photo Hosting Links - I of III

2006-05-24T19:56:00.000+05:30

I am providing a list of all the photo hosting sites that you can think about to share photos, files etc. Let me know if you find any particular thing interesting :

http://photobucket.com [register requirement]
http://www.free-webhosts.com/free-image-hosting.php
http://xs.to
http://www.imageshack.us
http://www.uploadit.org/ (register requirement)
http://pixup.xpuser.net
http://www.rapidshare.de/
http://www.mytempdir.com/
http://www.ultrashare.net/
http://www.yousendit.com/ (will be deleted in 7 days)
https://www.yousendit.com/ (encryption)
http://quizilla.com/quiz/image/upload/ (register requirement)
http://www.outerrealm.org/host [requires register]
http://www.da_insane.boo.pl/d/upload/
http://www.uploads.biz/

contd... in next post

Being Barefoot

2006-05-23T17:26:00.000+05:30

Barefoot running was introduced to me by Bonny who has been running barefoot for some months now. I also realized that there is a special Nike shoe called "Free" that is targeted for people transitioning from shoe to barefoot. Just discovered this interesting site "Society for Barefoot Living" which has interesting insights about being barefoot all the time.

Del.icio.us

2006-05-16T22:30:00.000+05:30

First thing you realize when you take up a task of information gathering for your MBA is an effective way to save all those different links. Just discovered http://del.icio.us where you can online bookmark your web pages that are interesting. No need to add bookmark into your windoz and be stuck with them on the computer.

Also found out two more similar services (1) http://digg.com/ and (2) http://newsvine.com

Both digg and newsvine are new post sites where you can post news and comments/notes which are then published just like blogs. Give these a shot. You will not regret it.

Great Listing of SuDoku Strategied

2006-05-16T11:20:00.000+05:30

If you are hooked on to SuDoku, here is a link that will make your leap from amateur to pro smooth. I really liked this site for the strategies on offer

read more | digg story

FOUND: Google Notebook Login Page

2006-05-16T11:15:00.000+05:30

The login page for Google Notebook has been discovered on Google's servers.

read more | digg story

The Lone Safari

2005-05-04T18:12:00.000+05:30

I have decided to give my GMAT. Not because I have some burning desire to rekindle the lost cause of doing an MBA within me, but i want to start blogging on the reason people like me start off on these adventures. I will talk of the philosophy and the intellectual requirements to write GMAT and subsequently apply to B-schools. Just stay tuned...

Solaris 10 and beyond

2005-02-07T13:37:00.000+05:30

I have always been able to use Linux (especially Debian) as my primary desktop OS and somehow do without Windoz. Of course, it was not easy and I am sure newbies brought up on Windoz will find it a bit more difficult to make this transition.

However, when we see price differences, viz-a-viz features, and especially every programmer worth her salt should discourage use of pirated software, I somehow feel the need to have a cost effective alternative to the MS options. Linux defenitely is there as an alternative. However, Intellectual property is something that has come back to bite some of these linux distributions. I feel strongly about protecting the IP of different individuals that have created amazing software.

Solaris 10 is now open source and it indemnifies IP too. Apart from the formidable features like ZFS, Zones, DTrace and about 500 new features, what it provides is a sense of relief that you might not be infringing on IP. I think it is a great piece of software and every developer should try out the latest GA (generally available) version. Also Solaris 10 works great on x86 PCs and it will be great to hear comments that you guys have on the OS

Obfuscation @ its Best

2004-09-04T01:32:00.000+05:30

Can anyone tell me what the output of this elegantly obfuscated C code is?

#define _ F-->00 || F-OO--;
long F=00,OO=00;
main(){F_OO();printf("%1.3f\n", 4.*-F/OO/OO);}F_OO()
{
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}

Free as in Liberty

2004-08-27T00:05:00.000+05:30

After nine years, people still don't get it. "The word 'Free' doesn't refer to price; it refers to freedom," said Richard Stallman; president of the Free Software Foundation. And it is all about freedom. I quote this in the context of my new java.net project MUSIC, that got approved recently and I have been able to put up a one pager on my development site http://music.dev.java.net.

I was choosing the licensing for the project and got engrossed in thoughts about the different ways software affects lives of both consumers as well as producers of the intellectual property. Much software these days is sold in shrink-wrapped cardboard boxes, often for thousands of dollars. For that, you get a handful of CDs or a DVD containing a program that the computer can execute, but which can't be modified. Companies keep their source-code the actual language in which programmers write, a closely guarded secret.

Stallman's vision of freedom is software that has no secrets. It comes complete with source code so that anyone who gets it can take it apart, see how it works, and make changes. But most important, people can share free software with their friends just by making a copy without having to pay royalties, shareware fees, or any thing at all. In the shrink-wrapped world, that's called piracy. In Stallman's world, it's called being a good neighbor. " I don't think that people should ever make promises not to share with their neighbor," he said.

I created my project as an L-GPL, instead of a GPL simply because I would not want people of closed code school of thought to not make use of this software. The LGPL-style license allows the use of MUSIC in both commercial and open source projects. In fact Mark Fleury (in case you don't know he is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of JBoss) has a great blog on LGPL vs BSD style licensing here

If you too have comments about the open source licensing, do use the comments section to add your 2 cents.

Time Travel In CyberSpace

2004-08-17T01:00:00.000+05:30

I have been discussing with some colleagues about a notion of a time travel on the web i.e something like what was the snapshot of the web say 5 years ago and what is it now? Simply put, we might arrive at a tangible time axis frame by comparing the googlecount of a particular keyword in google search and comparing the pages that pop-up for the given key now viz-a-viz 5 years ago and probably 50 years later. Interesting isn't it. And what kind of business propositions can be thought of in this scenario? Well this is just a rant and I am sure you readers can add your thoughts on this.

BTW i have been busy on my ITToolbox EAI blog of late. If you guys are interested in complete harmony of madness in the software world, do check it here.