Happy New Year 2010

New Year is the time to unfold new horizons & realize new dreams, to rediscover the strength & faith within u, to rejoice in simple pleasures & gear up 4 a new challenges. Let us leave behind what we don’t need to carry - GRUDGES SADNESS FEAR and REGRETS. 

Life is beautiful, Enjoy it.  

Happy New Year 2010. 

Wishing you all a truly fulfilling new year!

 

Open Source as seen by Google

Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice-president of product management at Google, put up on Dec. 21 what was more of a tome than a mere post on the company's blog. Entitled "The Meaning of Open," it was originally sent to Google employees as an e-mail, but it reads like a manifesto. It can be found here.

Jonathan Rosenberb says:

At Google we believe that open systems win. They lead to more innovation, value, and freedom of choice for consumers, and a vibrant, profitable, and competitive ecosystem for businesses. Many companies will claim roughly the same thing since they know that declaring themselves to be open is both good for their brand and completely without risk. After all, in our industry there is no clear definition of what open really means. It is a Rashomon-like term: highly subjective and vitally important.

The topic of open seems to be coming up a lot lately at Google. I've been in meetings where we're discussing a product and someone says something to the effect that we should be more open. Then a debate ensues which reveals that even though most everyone in the room believes in open we don't necessarily agree on what it means in practice.

This is happening often enough for me to conclude that we need to lay out our definition of open in clear terms that we can all understand and support. What follows is that definition based on my experiences at Google and the input of several colleagues. We run the company and make our product decisions based on these principles, so I encourage you to carefully read, review, and debate them. Then own them and try to incorporate them into your work. This is a complex subject and if there is debate (and I'm sure there will be) it should be in the open! Please feel free to comment.

He ends the post with:

Open will win. It will win on the Internet and will then cascade across many walks of life: The future of government is transparency. The future of commerce is information symmetry. The future of culture is freedom. The future of science and medicine is collaboration. The future of entertainment is participation. Each of these futures depends on an open Internet.

(Check out Jonathan Rosenberb blog for more)

Linux means Liberty

A picture is worth a thousand words.. 

(From http://www.tuxradar.com/content/linux-means-liberty)

Linux means Liberty

Open Source applications - update

An excellent compiled list of the best 10 Open source software can be found at this web site of Infoworld. Very common applications which we generally take for granted!! quoting from the web site:

"To many, free open source software and Microsoft Windows seem to be mutually exclusive. After all, the open source development model is most closely associated with the Linux OS and, to a lesser degree, various Unix derivatives. So when you mention the two together, you often get some rather strange looks. This is a shame because there exists a growing landscape of compelling free and open source solutions just waiting for the intrepid Windows user.

You probably already know one of them well. Firefox has long stood as a prime example of how the open source development process can work to deliver a first-class solution that rivals, and in many ways surpasses, the best that the commercial side has to offer."

And if you enjoy having your web life in one place, check out this Open Source Aggregators from this blog.  Especially StoryTlr which has recently gone open source.

What Are Social Aggregator Applications?

Before diving too deep into this conversation, let me first explain to you what Social Aggregators are. They are basically web based applications that aggregate or gather data/information from various 3rd party social applications. A basic idea of this would be a web application that aggregates your Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube etc. information into one location, allowing viewers to see all of that information in once place.

Cyberweapons Concern - Military use

The 'The New York Times' reports about US-Russia talk on limiting military usage of Cyberspace, which brings about Cyberweapons concerns!! Are we ready, prepared or just turning a blind eye?? hopefully the right persons at the right places in the Government are taking notice.

From The New York Times report :
"In the last two years, Internet-based attacks on government and corporate computer systems have multiplied to thousands a day. Hackers, usually never identified, have compromised Pentagon computers, stolen industrial secrets and temporarily jammed government and corporate Web sites."

Open Source Hardware Projects - 2009

This is phenomenal! 125 new Open Source Hardware Projects for the year 2009!! The Geeks amongst you would surely be drooling. Check out this site. From Electronic Prototyping and Green Power to music, bio-medical everything is there! My favourite is the 'Development platform and tools' section!

From the web site:

"Welcome to definitive guide to open source hardware projects in 2009. First up - What is open source hardware? These are projects in which the creators have decided to completely publish all the source, schematics, firmware, software, bill of materials, parts list, drawings and "board" files to recreate the hardware - they also allow any use, including commercial. Similar to open source software like Linux, but this hardware centric.

Each year we do a guide to all open source hardware and this year there are over 125 unique projects/kits in 19 categories, up from about 60 in 2008, more than doubling the projects out there! - it's incredible! Many are familiar with Arduino (shipping over 100,000 units, estimated) but there are many other projects just as exciting and filled with amazing communities - we think we've captured nearly all of them in this list. Some of these projects and kits are available from MAKE others from the makers themselves or other hardware manufacturers - but since it's open source hardware you can make any of these yourself, start a business, everything is available, that's the point."

The Best Twitter Applications

Bored with just tweeting? Is the Twitter bug waning? (check all about Twitter here) Though I admit I am not much of a 'tweeting type twitter', I am rather a 'reading type twitter' and spend good part of my time reading other peoples tweets (does that make a peek-a-booer??). I have my own interesting tweet to-follow list (will post it sometime!) which I religiously follow for the sake of information and awareness.

Over the weekend I was wondering what all can be done on 'twitter' to make the Tweet-life a little bit easier. With the Open-Source Twitter API (check this web site), it is now easier to integrate ones favourite apps with Twitter.

Though there are hundreds of twitter apps out there, these are some of my favourites. Thought would name it top-ten-twitter apps, but put in just two extra to make it 12. Try them out and enjoy twitting. Catch me at : http://twitter.com/gantayet

Twitter Grade. A pretty interesting site that grades your twitter account. I was ranked 2,280,381out of 5,792,569 which is just about average :-/ Agree whole heartedly with the grading :-) from their web site:

"Twitter Grader is a free tool that allows you to check the power of your twitter profile. It looks at a variety of factors including the number of followers, power of those followers and the level to which you are engaging the community. It takes just a few seconds to generate your free report"

Twitter Ratio. This site calculates the Twitter 'Follower-to-Friend' Ratio - the TFF Ratio. (never thought of that!!). The results are pretty interesting. It also provides you a web-badge code which can be embedded in your web-site, blog etc. to proudly show off your TFF ratio.


Twitter Value. Another ego bursting site. It puts a value on your Twitter!! Well, if you feel bad post the 'valuation', try out your friends Tweet value too. I was valued at $3 - my web-worth!! Whereas Shashi Tharoor twitter was valued at an obscene $18157.00!!!

TweetCube. TweetCube allows you to share files on Twitter. TweetCube is 100% free to use, but the maximum file size you can upload is currently 10mb. You can upload as many files as you want. Files are deleted after 30 days.

Twixxer. Twixxer is a photo and video sharing component for Twitter.com users who are normally restricted to text-only updates that contain links to media. It is comprised of a browser add-on and a web service.

Twitpic. You guessed it. One more site to share your tweet pictures from the mobile or API.

Twitter Business Card.  Now you can send customised 'Business Cards' with your Tweets! Pretty simple to use and work with.

Tweet to Follow.  A nice site that helps you find like minded twitter whom you may follow!! just giver your twitter name, and you would see twitter-to-follow list!!


GeoChirp. As the name suggests, this site helps you for find twitter-users in a particular geographical area!! A very Twitter-GoogleMap mashup,  this has a very nice interface! Go get them - the twitters near your area :-)

Twitter Search. Find what's happening in twitter right now with this  Google-like web interface!!

Twitter Desktop. So by now if you have become a frenzied Twitter, the web interface would be a big pain. you would need a dedicated twitter client to organise and manage your Tweetings. This is your answer!! :-)

Twitter Screencast. You can easily create screencast and tweet them using 'Screenr'. Very easy to use and share!

For more and much more on 'Twitter' do visit http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/ and get that tweet back in your life :-) !! 

Enjoy!!

Microsoft Open Sources Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool

Microsoft has Open Sourced the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool by releasing it under the GPLv2 license. The code is now available on CodePlex, Microsoft's Open Source software project hosting repository, over at http://wudt.codeplex.com.

Details at: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/12/microsoft-finally-open-sources-windows-7-tool.ars

==Extract from the site===

Microsoft has open sourced the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (WUDT) by releasing it under the GPLv2 license. The code is now available on CodePlex, Microsoft's Open Source software project hosting repository, over at wudt.codeplex.com. The actual installer for the tool is now again available for download at the Microsoft Store (2.59MB). 

If you've got a good memory, the size might surprise you as the closed source version of the tool was only 946KB (we kept the old installer for the sake of comparison). When we compared the two tools side-by-side, the only difference we noticed was that the "Terms of use" link is no longer present in the GUI (we didn't really expect to see much more, as the size difference is really due to the included source code). Microsoft explains that while the user experience of the tool has not changed, the install involves additional steps. For convenience, the previous installer aggregated together three additional components, which are separate freestanding executables:

• .NET Framework: WUDT is written in C# which requires the Microsoft .NET Framework to run.
• IMAPI: the tool uses IMAPI to burn DVDs.
• Bootsect.exe: this is part of the Windows 7 bits (found in \boot\) and allows a USB device to be marked as bootable.

Google Chrome Official release for Linux

Google has finally 'Officially' released Google Chrome for Linux (on 08 Dec 09). It is available at http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/w00t.html

Definitely the Linux fans are cheering!!

Also check out the loads of extensions/addons for the Google Chrome, a la 'Firefox'. Get it from here. Hope these extensions don't make Chrome as bloated as Firefox has become!!

Enjoy the web experience with Chrome - though for me, for the time being 'Firefox' would be my primary browser!! For the time being at least!!

Connecting USB Net Connect Dongles in Linux

Solution to connecting USB Net Connect dongles on Linux

There has been queries on connecting the USB Net Connect dongles (Of Reliance, Idea, Airtel etc.).

Those using windows, have to struggle with 'Loading drivers from CDs', configuring etc. etc.

In Linux, especially Ubuntu and Mint, it is fairly simple. No playing around with Driver CDs :-) Here is the procedure (Same for Reliance, Idea, Airtel etc)

Step One: Just plug it in (Of course on a booted machine running Ubuntu or Mint - Not the C-DAC BOSS Linux-OS being used in some Offices!! :)

Step Two: Go to  “Preferences>Network Connections> Mobile Broadband”. It should detect “Auto Mobile Broadband CDMS connection”
Step Three: Select the connection to add phone number “#777″ (for reliance and Idea) and you username/ password, both of which should be your 10 digit phone number (read it off from the purchase document!!).
Step Four: That is all.Choose the connection from notification area and enjoy.

In case it does not work. just try the following command on the terminal (you can also use this instead of the above steps!)

“sudo wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf” which will detect the modem and install it for internet connection.
Easy - is not it??

The Indian Spider Man

The Indian Spider Man - in real life!! Some one forgot to tell him that Spider Man is fiction!!

Jyothi Rai from Karnataka, India earns his living by acting the Spider Man for tourists at the Chitradurga Fort, Karnataka. His death defying stunts, done day in and day out for entertainment of tourists and school children visiting the fort is done without any safety harness (highly not recommended!!). Check out this web site and video!!

But for crazier death defying Spider Man - this had me gulping!!!

OpenDNS response to Google's DNS Service

Continuing with the news of Google's new free DNS Service which I posted earlier, the response from the OpenDNS founder is interesting and relevant. From his blog at:
http://blog.opendns.com/2009/12/03/opendns-google-dns/

Visit the site to check out the interesting comments readers have also made
- gantayet

====Extract from the blog=====

Some thoughts on Google DNS 

by David Ulevitch, Founder on Dec 3rd, 2009

Google launched a DNS service today, almost exactly four years after I started OpenDNS. This comes as no surprise as it was only a matter of time before one of the Internet giants realized the strategic importance of DNS. I’ve received a lot of questions from bloggers, journalists, friends and most importantly, our users. And so I want to share my thoughts on what this means for the recursive DNS space and what it means for OpenDNS.

First, it’s not the same as OpenDNS. When you use Google DNS, you are getting the experience they prescribe. When you use OpenDNS, you get the Dashboard controls to manage your experience the way you want for you, your family or your organization. People use OpenDNS because we are pioneers and innovators in the DNS space, offering the most secure recursive DNS service around. We run the largest DNS caches, the fastest resolvers, and we offer the most flexibility in controlling your DNS experience. For example, IT folks want to block malware in the DNS, parents sometimes want to block certain content from kids. All of that and more is possible with our DNS. It is not with Google DNS. Of course, we don’t force those things, we offer them as controls that you manage the way you see fit. Providing people with choice is core to our offerings.

Second, it means that Google realizes that DNS is a critical piece of our Internet’s infrastructure and that it’s of strategic importance to help people safely and reliably navigate the Internet. This is something we’ve championed since day one and will always keep as our primary mission. This is why big enterprise customers are switching to OpenDNS too, not because it’s free but because it’s the best and we add value to DNS and improve the security of their networks.

Third, Google claims that this service is better because it has no ads or redirection. But you have to remember they are also the largest advertising and redirection company on the Internet. To think that Google’s DNS service is for the benefit of the Internet would be naive. They know there is value in controlling more of your Internet experience and I would expect them to explore that fully. And of course, we always have protected user privacy and have never sold our DNS data. Here’s a link to our privacy policy.

Fourth, it means that Google is bringing awareness to a wide audience that there is a choice when it comes to DNS and that users don’t have to settle for what their ISP provides. And we believe that having choice is a good thing — just as Internet users have unbundled their email to services like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail people have been unbundling their DNS and switching to OpenDNS in huge numbers for the last 3+ years because we’re better.

Fifth, it’s not clear that Internet users really want Google to keep control over so much more of their Internet experience than they do already — from Chrome OS at the bottom of the stack to Google Search at the top, it is becoming an end-to-end infrastructure all run by Google, the largest advertising company in the world. I prefer a heterogeneous Internet with lots of parties collaborating to make this thing work as opposed to an Internet run by one big company.

So how will this impact us? It’s too early to tell, but largely I think this is a good thing for us. Google DNS currently offers none of the choice and flexibility that our service does. It’s new and untested. Having said that, it encourages us to keep making our service better. And ultimately, we’re a business that has been growing aggressively since we launched and has been competing in fair markets and winning. It raises awareness about the importance of DNS and it motivates us to continue providing world-class services to a global audience and to keep innovating.

We will continue to do that without distraction from Google or any of the other players in the DNS or security space. But we welcome Google to the neighborhood.

Faster web browsing using Google's DNS servers

A great news that I was waiting for!! You can now have faster web browsing experience using Google's DNS services!!

Google has launched a Public DNS (Domain Name Service) server and the details are available here.

Simply put, you can abandon the DNS IP addresses given by your ISPs like MTNL, BSNL or local Broadband provider and use the Google DNS IP addresses 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 

What is DNS? Simply put - when you type in a website address 'Name' on your web browser, say like http://www.google.com, your computer queries a DNS server (setup by your systems DNS setting IP address!!) to get an IP address (in this case http://www.google.com translates to http://209.85.231.99), and then proceeds to connect to the IP address that it gets from the DNS server. The above process is called as 'Name to IP address' resolving and is a very critical part (and time consuming) of every web browsing activity.

Generally, if the DNS server of your local ISP server is not configured/ administered properly, the 'Name to IP address' resolving takes some time. And when you realise that a single web page has many such 'Names', using the Google Public DNS server will save considerable time during the web browsing.


The Advantages?? Definitely faster browsing speed which would be noticeable. On a Linux machine, you can check yourself the speed advantages by giving these commands at the command prompt and comparing the time shown (my results showed a 50% time saving!!):

time dig @ www.blogspot.com

time dig @8.8.8.8 www.blogspot.com

time dig @8.8.4.4 www.blogspot.com

Other advantages (quoting from the Google Blog!):

• Speed: Resolver-side cache misses are one of the primary contributors to sluggish DNS responses. Clever caching techniques can help increase the speed of these responses. Google Public DNS implements prefetching: before the TTL on a record expires, we refresh the record continuously, asychronously and independently of user requests for a large number of popular domains. This allows Google Public DNS to serve many DNS requests in the round trip time it takes a packet to travel to our servers and back.
• Security: DNS is vulnerable to spoofing attacks that can poison the cache of a nameserver and can route all its users to a malicious website. Until new protocols like DNSSEC get widely adopted, resolvers need to take additional measures to keep their caches secure. Google Public DNS makes it more difficult for attackers to spoof valid responses by randomizing the case of query names and including additional data in its DNS messages.
• Validity: Google Public DNS complies with the DNS standards and gives the user the exact response his or her computer expects without performing any blocking, filtering, or redirection that may hamper a user's browsing experience.