Hi all,
Due to blogger being non-free software I'm moving permanently to wordpress.com. One can find all my future posts at Wordpress
Hi all,
Due to blogger being non-free software I'm moving permanently to wordpress.com. One can find all my future posts at Wordpress
While during the event Yuva_Vividha which I covered in the last post I also did a presentation on a concept called the Wekosystem. Its an interesting concept and I would be talking about Wekosystem in future blog posts. It was not a presentation in the traditional sense but more like an unconference where you throw the idea around and let people pick holes or ask queries on the same. I had originally planned for something like 20-30 mins. with say 15-20 mins for Q&A but people liked the concept and it went on for couple of hours. All in all, must say I enjoyed myself a great deal talking to people and sharing as well as learning from them. First up, the pictures from the event itself as well as the URL where the concept is talked about in more detail.
There are few times in life when you are able to put yourselves in an slightly alien environment and still manage to enjoy oneself. I gave myself that opportunity when I went to Dahanu, Maharashtra to take part in what was known as a community radio workshop. Flickr album
It was 3 days of unadulterated farm life, lot of learning for a newbie like me and enjoyed myself thoroughly all the same.
While everybody is invited to see the whole set here's a snap from the same album.
The other was another expression I was exposed to. I went to something called "Yuva Vividha" which means Youth and Diversity or perhaps celebration of youth in diversity or vice-versa. The thing was done by an NGO called Comet Media Foundation.
While one can have a look of the same at Yuva Vividha Album for the whole set here's an interesting experience I went through. A group of people have put up a site called http://sayitoutloud08.wordpress.com/ . Its a wordpress blog and the thinking behind it is interesting. Put up your hand with your name age and city, put your one dream which will make world a better place and choose a color. While its fun I'm sure one could read anything from behavioural patterns (color choice) to political leanings (show the hand, thoughts etc.) I don't know what's the people behind it have the motive and whatever they may be its a fun concept for sure. The other thing they have got as you can see is handycam which isn't as fearful as the video cameras of yesterday. All in all pretty cool for the concept.
Here's one of the photos of me fooling around on the camera
Lastly, all the photos in both the albums as well as showcased here have been shot by a good friend of mine, Lajpat Dhingra. He's an FSF activist too but a much much better photographer than me for sure ;)
Hi all,
Been just playing a waiting game to see when Hardy 8.04 comes out. In other news openoffice.org 2.4 just got out. Not just a new release but the site itself has been overhauled. Even the forums have been changed to phpBB 3.0 . All of this alongwith the promises of 3.0 up in September '08 . Well these guys are really gonna set the competition afire ;) I just hope the GNOME Office guys as well as KDE Office suite guys also come up with something appropriate.
One thing that would be interesting over next few days if they have been able to shave off some memory while giving new features. OOO 2.3 is pretty bloated as in memory consumption. Looking forward to what happens next. That's all for the day :)
Hi all,
Another day. Today I was just reminiscing how much things change. As far as my introduction to computers go it started with the advent of BBS'es which had become part of the nerd crowd at that time. This was circa 1991 - '92 . The people who used to run the BBS's had these monster big modems & they would connect to Internet through there ERNET connections . What the guys used to do was that all games & general stuff one could access by connecting to the BBS, for adult content one had to know where to look. Young kids who didn't know any better would go with floppies & get whatever they need. Something like Sneakernet . The media was not upto the mark, and some floppies worked while others didn't & generally people would get frustrated.
Now why am I talking of the past. Simply for the fact the same issues are still making people frustrated. While prOn may be easily available technical or business information is not easily found. Of course Tim's has an idea of the Semantic Web when that will happen or if that happens but as of now one can try enough to feel sleepy & sometimes not get the results.
So after boring u guys with my childhood stories I leave with the thought that everybody is able to find what they are looking for , till next time :)
Comments, suggestions, flames are all welcome :)
Hi all,
Been rather busy hence no blogging although there have been no dearth of things to blog about. The most interesting thing is the fontconfig application which I used really for sometime today. The issue I went to a localised marathi site & had to get the fonts. Then after getting few issues with the GUI based tools finally googled & found the CLI way to install & update the font cache. When I did the job, just for the heck of it also read the documentation & found to be pretty good & upto mark. While lead to another round of googling & came to know that KeithP is responsible for this lovely package. For those who don't know KeithP he's the Intel guy who's responsible for all the funky graphics you are able to see on your intel graphics cards/chipsets.
He's probably going to go heaven for adding one more feather to his cap . Thanx KeithP :)
Mumbai: DTH providers Dish TV and Tata Sky have been playing around with the TRAI’s (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) interoperability guidelines, which require that the DTH operator must provide a set top box technically interoperable among different service providers.
The set-top box should also conform to standards laid down by the Government. At present, these standards prescribed by the Government incorporate, among others, MPEG 2 compression format.
Now there is resistance to a revision of standards suggested by Trai as well.
R.N. Choubey, advisor (B&CS), Trai said, “We have recently recommended to the Government that the standards should be revised to permit mpeg4 set top boxes. These would be compatible for mpeg2 transmissions anyways.”
As of now, technical interoperability hasn’t taken roots as hardly any consumer has reportedly decided to switch service providers. A reason, according to Trai, is that the prices of CAM (conditional access modules), which are needed to be plugged in the existing set top boxes slot are too expensive (almost as much as the set top box). The CAM is not provided by the operator.
Trai suggests the revision of standards be implemented prospectively and apply to DTH subscribers enrolled after six months from the date of such revision. Such revision should not compulsorily require the DTH operators to upgrade the STBs of existing subscribers to conform to revised standards, though they would be free to do so on their own.
The suggestion comes in the wake of Reliance’s DTH offering - Big TV to be available on a technologically higher platform-mpeg4.
Vikram Mehra, chief marketing officer of Tata Sky said, “Technically, all Tata Sky set top boxes are interoperable and do follow the existing TRAI guidelines.”
Vikram Kaushik, the CEO of Tata Sky, however finds the technical interoperability clause “ill-advised” said that it should be removed altogether.
Source: Hindustan Times
This is something which needs to be resisted at all costs. We, as consumers, want the ability to change services at a whim. Its the same thing which is there in the mobile phone. If there was no interoperability there, then one couldn't just take any SIM & put in there. Technology is there, and I'm sure even the CAM prices would come down, sooner or later (i.e. if enough people come to know about it & how it can be done).
Segmentation fault (core dumped)