Anuj Pathania's Blog

Are We Making Progress?

2011-11-25T21:08:00.003+05:30

I always believed that goal of human being is to help humanity make progress. True happiness lies in knowing that every single day you help make this world a better place with your contribution no matter how small it is. Question is how do we define progress and more importantly how we can say if we are making any?

Apparently, its professed that we are making progress in technology by leaps and bounds, but are we making progress as a society as whole because of it. If you take a look around closely you can see that everything is becoming costly (manipulation is one big contributor), whether its food or energy. We have destroyed most of our planet and consumed all it resources greedily to the verge of exhaustion. But, the real killer in my opinion which reflect the case that we are going in reverse gear, is that our life has become more complicated than ever before.

Einstein said "Any fool can make things bigger and complicated, but it takes a stroke of genius to make things simple". We have now hundreds of friends through Facebook where we had in single digit in past. We had lost the serenity of isolation, for we are in now constantly connected to every one else. Worse of all World has become very competitive and so have we. We fight fiercely with each other first for education (grades), then for job, then to keep our job or promotion and so on. But have we not lost the true meaning of the life in all this?

Here's my definition of what true progress would have been. With every passing moment, the cost of living should become smaller and smaller, till it reaches zero. In a world where you don't have to worry about earning your keep any time. Where life becomes simple every day. Where we just live to improve ourselves and not just simply survive to outrun in some meaningless rat races.

"Simplicity" is the true definition of progress. If we make things simple and efficient, then the cost of doing them will decrease. We would be doing things which love, more than things we just have to do for living. Just ask yourself the question that is your life more simple, than it was yesterday and you will know that if you had made any progress.

Root of Discontent

2011-06-25T20:23:00.003+05:30

It is beyond doubt that now is the most affluent times for human race ever. Never in our history we have achieved the technical marvels which are now becoming so ubiquitous, in reach of almost every one. If economist are to believed then the abundant prosperity these technology bring to us via free markets should make us more happy then even before in the history. Indeed even the marginal sections are living with things and privileges taken for granted in this era, for which kings in past would give up half their kingdoms.

Paradoxically ,society seems to be drifting contrary to prophetic wisdom of the mathematical sages. My existence in this corporeal world is relative young but from what I can observe that people are becoming rather more discontent than happy as the opulence grows. I know that most of the people would put the blame on insatiable human greed, especially the ones in anti-capitalism camps, but I dare suggest an alternative line of reasoning, more biological than philosophical.

Putting aside the controversy, I believe that Darwin was on to something and it is likely we did evolve from apes. So we are in reality nothing more than a bunch of monkeys with over sized brain. Below all that logic our consciousness is still ruled by raw animals instincts. It is in the end those instincts which control our happiness. As long as we played by their rules our subconscious reward us with hormones which induces the state of glee. If you fight them then subconscious would punish you by breeding discontent irrespective of your conscious minds incessant effort to rationalize it, to make you fall in line. So in a nutshell you are far less in control than you believe you are.

So, what does this instincts want? Well, as far as nature is concerned it just want you to procreate, rear the young till they are old enough to take care of themselves and then die. Nature sees no point in you hoarding resources by your existence once you have out lived you usefulness. So our prime instinct is to ensure the survival of our genes and in broader sense our species. Greed is directly driven by this instinct, the drive to hoard as much as resource as possible to pass on to our gene carriers (our children) to enhance their chances of survival over others. So more resources at our disposal should lead to increased appeasement of the prime instinct leading to eternal bliss. Right?

Wrong. To be precise we do experience a bout of ecstasy when momentarily satisfy our prime instinct like when we buy the latest model sports car but it does not last. Some people get addicted to ephemeral pleasure and live their lives in meaningless pursuit of materialistic items of no real value. I feel sorry for the misguided souls for they seek salvation in the wrong place.

They miss the bigger picture. Ultimate survival of their genes depend upon the survival of human race which in turn depends upon the preservation of the current state of the planet. All that "Planet in Danger" stuff is in truth crap. It is not the planet in danger but the human species. Planet will still be here and probably evolve itself a truly intelligent species when we brats have doomed ourselves into oblivion. But the human genes will perish and that scares the hell out of our prime instinct and it in its own way trying to tell us, "You fool, what do you think you are doing?".

Our instinct knows despite our technological advances we will always be subservient to nature for our existence, not the other way round. More we disconnect ourselves from nature and ensconce ourselves in these concrete jungle, more our discontent grows. As we sacrifice our environment to fulfill our present desire, less is left for our subsequent generations. In pursuit of worthless chattels we do irreparable damage which reduces our genes chance of survival in future. No wonder our instinct is getting more agitated every passing moment. Even if you isolate your self from all that tree hugging media and news, you still need to breathe in air and even if you refuse to admit, you know deep within your soul that it is getting worse than better.

It is our prime directive to ensure that we leave a better world for our children then we had for ourselves. Even the most insignificant act matters, it shows your subconscious that you are willing to listen to it and slowly they will add up. Just remember you are doing it for yourself, nobody else. If you strive to achieve this goal irrespective of outcome then you will be content and rewarded with lasting happiness. If not, then well that perpetual emptiness inside you is not insufferable and you can probably live with it till your last breath, but I don't envy you.

Great India-Pakistan Dilemma

2011-05-12T22:06:00.002+05:30

Osama bin laden has been killed in Pakistan and for obvious reasons nobody in India has been surprised. We all know the truth and people on the other side of the fence know that we know the truth truth and yet they say no one, not even they themselves know the truth.

I commiserate with my general public counterpart, just one voice in a chaotic chorus of billions. I can imagine how much pain and humiliation he must have felt on both occasion, the way in which Osama had been brought in and how he was taken out. A citizens last of solace lies in his sovereignty and all but shame and disgrace is that what is left of it when he sees it get raped by an outsider or for that matter his own brethren. I can understand his pain and anger, because I would have felt the same way if something similar happened on my soil. In fact I experienced it first hand in the Mumbai carnage.

Now here in India, I here the talk about how Indians does not have the balls like American do, to pull something like this off. I wonder if all these war mongers realize that with this myriad variety innate to our country only thing preventing us from imploding is our steadfast belief in tolerance. How we treat our neighbor at present will determine how we would be eventually treated by each other in near future.

On other side of the spectrum there are naive people who talk about how we are the same people, two sons from the same mother separated by the B. How we all can one day forget all our differences, forgive each other and unite in peace. Unfortunately the utopia they believe is nothing more than pipe dream, a fiction of their sanguine imagination. Truth is, we have been long past the time when union the way they imagine it could have been possible. We are not the same people. We may have been when we got our independence, but not any more. Separate path our two nation took after liberation and the subsequent 60 years of separation have created two totally different society. I am afraid the present generations at both side does not share any affinity for each other. In a nutshell, no amount of talk or force can now bring us under one banner.

I am not a pessimist who has lost all hope nor I am an optimist who believe god would pull out a miracle for us. I am pragmatic person, an engineer by trade. All I see is a problem whose solution is just around the corner. I believe the only answer to this dilemma is "trade". In the past trade turned many intransigent foes into friends. Countries whose economy depends upon each other does not wage a war against each for their own welfare. May be as trade grows we could start to come together on journey of union with baby steps such signing a FTA or common currency. Only god knows what more we can achieve as time passes and trade grows.

One thing I am sure of that if India-Pakistan were trading among themselves (2 countries sharing border), the amount they are trading with US, a country seven seas away, I would not be writing this.

Wish Tobacco Worked Liked Cyanide

2011-05-11T19:37:00.005+05:30

Tobacco is the biggest curse God put on humanity, probably just to chuckle from above in satisfaction that human race which consider himself so superior is in fact so pathetic and fatuous.

I just wish tobacco worked like cyanide because one who started smoking (chewing) has already decided to kill himself so why prolong the inevitable. A quick death would be a favor to everyone, be it their families or society. It would be a biggest favor to themselves because I have personally seen how humiliating, degrading and painful death awaits them. Each one of them know what the consequences are.

I always believed in my heart that people worth saving are the ones who wanted to be saved . If you are a tobacco user dying of lung or mouth cancer on death bed, looking at me for solace than I can give you only my pity. You will not even have a iota of my sympathy. I will not even be sorry for you.

I hope when you meet your maker that you can justify him that it was worth it.

"Metro Rail" is our only Chance

2011-04-21T07:05:00.004+05:30

India is a big country with a huge population which bring with the humungous problem of transporting more than a billion of us.

Car market in India is booming and people I know are getting there 2nd and 3rd car, ignorantly aping the west. This is India and we face challenges far more difficult than any one ever before. What work in Occidental land has no chance of success here. Unfortunately our government is as ignorant about it as most of us. Whenever there is a traffic jam, they start building a flyover which just send the problem from one junction to another. If even every family in India own just one car then our roads would be living hell.

Fortunately, there is a solution and its called "Metro". Metro can take extremely large amount of load in comparison with much more energy efficiency. It pollutes less, cheaper and there are no jams driving us nuts. Problem is its span is limited and expanding its reach is slow, painful and costly process but once build it will last for centuries. DMRC in Delhi is a shining exam of how a Metro can save a city from suffocating under its own weight.

Most of the cities in the country now want their own Metro on similar lines and that is reason to cheer, atleast they have a desire. But, the plans are seriously mired with problems of funding. We are to blame as much as the Government for the financial limitation. Every time we spend money for traveling via our personal vehicles instead of Metro we transfer money to some repressive "Wealthy Sheik" instead of using it to build our future.

We have limited time in this and eventually every one of us will come to pass. Our personal chattels would accompany us to the oblivion, but what we build as community will passed on to our children and grandchildren to benefit from.

Why I No Longer Take My Motorcycle To Work?

2011-03-29T12:48:00.004+05:30

To start with I absolutely love riding my bike. In fact I loved it so much that I am hostile to the idea of learning to drive a car to this date, even though I have a spare car at home. In comparison to the claustrophobic cars which felt like moving coffins, bike offered me much more comfort to travel. And of course their charm of speed and maneuverability were the irresistible for me.

Here are some stats. I have been driving my bike (Bajaj Pulsar 150) for over 5 years now. I have clocked around 50000 km, for which I have consumed around 10000 Litres of petrol and released around 25 tons of CO2 beside concoction of other not so good stuff along with it. Most of the which was spent on commuting for 3 years of education (30km every trip) and 2 years of job (50km each trip).

When I look back though, majority of my riding time was regular commute in peak traffic, which was not as painful as traveling in car, but was still a hassle never the less. My best moments with my bike were when I zipped past at 120 on highways and empty flyovers late nights or early mornings. When I look back later was worth it, former was not.If I had commuted using the public transport I am pretty sure I would be a same place in life as I am now (except for not writing this post) but with a clearer conscious.

Well its never to late and now every time I don't take my ride to work I save around 1.5 litres of petrol. Not much, and more like a drop in the ocean in comparison to world's consumption but it's totally worth it. Its a bit more troublesome than before because I have to interchange transport 2-3 times but benefit of enhanced self esteem makes it worth the effort.

It's true that age adds perspectives to your life. Experience of the generation next taking over and realizing that you are no longer the new generation can be very humbling (Thanks to my Nephew). I have realized that I have a responsibility towards the future generation, to give them a better world then I inherited. My contribution is tiny but every bit matters and in my heart I know I am trying . I write this post because am a selfish and greedy person, because I know if I can inspire even a few (starting with my Father) to change, my life would much more fulfilling and enriched.

Make Firefox 4 Your Default Browser on Mac

2011-03-28T14:48:00.002+05:30

I was previously been using Chrome and recently switched to Firefox 4 on my Macbook, but everytime I click on a link it used to open up chrome and not Firefox. Reason, Firefox was not my default browser.

In Firefox 4 they have modified the way you set Firefox as default browser and surprisingly option to check your default browser is unchecked by default. I have not kept up with the development community so don't know the precise reason but my guess is that it was to make Firefox less intrusive (Ain't they thoughtful).

So go to Firefox 4 >> Preferences >> Advanced (Tab) >> General (Subtab) >> Check Now

Here's a screenshot for help -

Drawing Basic Shapes in Preview

2011-03-27T15:04:00.000+05:30

Not many people know that you don't need a special photo editing software if they want to add simple shapes and arrows to a image in Mac. For example, when you want to make a point in a presentation or highlight an action in a blog. In can be done very easily and efficiently by OS X's inbuilt software "Preview". Here's a video I found on Youtube, explains the same very eloquently.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T19:59:00.004+05:30

2011 is here, 2010 is History. 2010 was no doubt an good year, but job kept me busy most of the time. This year is gonna be much more happening If my plans work out. This year, life is gonna take a higher priority over job.

First of all, this year I am going to try to get into Master's Program for real. Already gave GRE, preparing to give TOFEL in January. Gonna put together my profile and submit application for matriculation and stuff.

Other plans -

Doing lot of Reading. Planning to read a good novel every week after I am over with Toffel.

Watch tons of Movies, Plan to watch one every day or to.

Intense Gaming, Gonna renew my Xbox Live subscription after TOFEL and more importantly gain a lot of GamerScore to increase my pathetic number.

Writing zillions of Line of Code, not professional, Open Source One. Open Source Rocks!

Trot around, Travel to places local and abroad where I have never been too.

Most importantly, try to learn new things, live new experiences and then do a plethora of blog posts about them.

Happy New Year to All !!!

1 Year in TCS.

2010-12-29T08:07:00.006+05:30

Today I completed my first year in TCS. Exactly one year from now i have been scrambling to get all my documents in order and heading to Noida for my training. The year went smoothly like a breeze.

TCS is a great company to be in and has been very generous to me. I had great teams, quality work and the best of all the TCS has to offer.

I got confirmed and I am no longer a trainee. In added bonus, also got an confirmation increment.

It is fun being a TCSer and I hope the rest of the journey is as pleasant as the first half.

शायरी (Hindi Poetry)

2010-09-16T20:40:00.003+05:30

तेरी आँखों के सिवा, दुनिया में अब रखा क्या हैं,

तेरी मुस्कराहट में ही अब मेरा जहाँ हैं.

सनम तुह्ज से ही तोह हमने सिखा,

वक़्त के तुफ्फान न मिटा सके वोह वफ़ा क्या हैं.

--*--

और भी गम हैं ज़िन्दगी में महुबत के सिवा.

महुबात ज़िन्दगी से हैं, न ज़िन्दगी महुबत से यहाँ.

--*--

वोह रिश्ता ही क्या जिसमे तुम ही तुम हो, हम न हो.

दिथ्कर हे तेरी मोहब्बत, जो तुह्जे हमारे बिचादने का गम न हो."

Determining Hollywood Movies for Family Viewing

2010-08-14T09:57:00.008+05:30

Problem with Hollywood movies is that most of them are littered with nudity and sexual content. Well I appreciate most of them in private but they can be a bit embarrassing when watching with friends and family. I personally had a first hand experience sulking in front of parents when a sudden fetish scene appeared, all of sudden from nowhere.

So its prudish to do a casual research of the film you plan to screen beforehand. It just takes a minute to do so.

Go to IMDB, Search for your film name. MPAA rating can be a initial indicator but they have a very nifty section called "Parents Guide: View Content Advisory for Parents", a wiki doc maintained by the users which gives detailed description for most of the movies. If it's missing than its kind of a incumbent upon you too watch that movie in private and then update that section for others.
I hope this helps because it sure helped me.

Started Working in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

2009-12-29T21:58:00.002+05:30

Joined TCS as Assistant System Engineer today.

I was placed in TCS around end of my 3rd year in B-Tech at MAIT.

An important step in my career after having a delightful experience of working in Wirkle for 7 months. Now new challenges await.

Bon Voyage!!!

Google Maps for Running Path Calculation

2009-12-22T11:26:00.003+05:30

I love to jog every morning, but I was finding it difficult to track my progress. I was failing to put number on my daily run. I solved this with the help of Google maps. I calculated the length of my running path from its satellite view.

It turned out that my one lap is around 2000 feet or 600m. I generally do 10 laps ... so I am running 6km daily at present.

Putting a number to my endeavor is very impressive and I can use number as milestones to achieve more stamina preparing for my marathons. Now I can also easily change tracks or jog a random path and still calculate my running length without need of a pedometer.

"They have killed their Mother"

2009-12-21T07:15:00.002+05:30

I watched Jame's Cameroon Avatar, a few days back. Absolutely gorgeous movie and everybody should watch it atleast once. Message from movie penetrates right into the heart and soon you start feeling for the native alien race rather than your own human race.

At the brink of war between humans and natives, the hero appeals to the soul of the planet for help. The words he used, "Look into Grace's dream. They have already killed their own mother and now they want to kill you". These words immediately caused some kind of emotional pain in my heart.

The moment I step out of the movie theatre, I started seeing my surroundings in a new light. Anywhere I see, I realize how shamelessly we have converted our planet into a concrete mess. Only sporadic pieces of nature remain here and there, still struggling to survive, begging for mercy from humans. Still appealing the man to connect back to them, if only the man cares to look at them once.

Logical Puzzle: Brick, Boat and Lake

2009-12-18T11:32:00.003+05:30

Question: There is a man sitting in a boat floating on a lake with a brick in his hand. Now man throws the brick in the water, now will the level of water in the lake will rise, drop or remain same?

Answer: The water level will drop.

When brick is in the boat it displaces water equivalent to its weight. When its in the lake it displaces water equivalent to its volume. Since the density of brick is more than water, it will displace more water in the boat than when it is in the bottom of the lake.

C/C++ Programming on MAC

2009-12-07T17:03:00.005+05:30

If you want to do simple C/C++ programming on MAC than you can do that simply by using the Xcode the Apple default programming environment. It comes bundle with your MAC OSX CD, so you don't even have to download it.

As I discovered you don't need to get yourself a separate IDE for MAC. Watch the video above to get yourself started.

I use xcode for Objective-C programming on MAC daily for iPhone.

Logical Puzzle: Average of 3 Salaries

2009-12-01T18:12:00.002+05:30

Question: There are 3 people X, Y & Z. They want to find their average salary but wish to keep their package hidden from each other. How are they going to do it?

Answer: Lets say salary of X, Y & Z are A,B & C respectively.

1. Now X adds a constant E (can be both negative and positive) to his salary and tells it to B.
2. Y adds a constant F to his salary and add it to the sum provided by X (A+E) and tell it to C.
3. Z adds a constant G to his salary and add it to the sum provided by Y (A + E + B + F) and tells it to every one.
4. Now A removes the constant E from the total ( A + E + B + F + C + G), then B removes F and finally C removes G. Now they have the sum total of their salary.
5. They divide the total by 3 and obtain the average salary.

Bought Myself a MacBook

2009-12-01T18:02:00.003+05:30

I have finally bitten by the 'Apple bug'. I have bought myself a MacBook, the one released in November and my experience till now is amazing. It costed me 55k in rupees (including taxes) and I bought it from official apple retailer UCInfosystem .

I would like to thank my currren company Wirkle to introduce me to the MAC development environment and OSX. Its a great addition to my skill and I can now code on Windows, Mac and Linux. In tech terms I am triple booting now.

My (Anuj Pathania's) 5 Best Solo Pic

2009-11-25T14:33:00.007+05:30

I was going through all my pics collection. It was like looking through a panorama of my life. There's 100 of those pics among collection that I absolutely adore. Here are my 5 top favorite pics of myself and short description of each.

1 @ Delhi Zoo

2 @ Sister's Marriage

3 @ 21st Birthday

4 @ Karnal

5 @ Office Party

Yeah I know I am not superbly good looking but I think I look descent in these pics :D.

Half-Delhi Marathon: Mission Accomplished.

2009-11-01T14:02:00.006+05:30

Today I ran hard and successfully completed Airtel Half Delhi Marathon. I completed 21 Kilometers in 3 Hours and 13 minutes.

First five 5 KMs were pieces of cake, but after that with each successive km milestone, it seemed liked that distance between 2 milestone was getting bigger and bigger.

I ran with my Company(Wirkle) - CEO (Mr. Varun Khurana)and COO (Mr. Lomesh Dutta) and seriously missed my other 2 colleagues Mohit Goyal and Meetali who could not made it to the race due to personal reasons.

As a reward for completion I was given the above medal, a memento to remember my great achievement for rest of my life.

Marathon running is fun. Hopefully Delhi is just a start in my long tally of future Marathons.

Mac Expose on Linux

2009-08-30T11:29:00.003+05:30

I hate a lot of things about Mac, but one thing I don't hate is it's expose feature. I got so impressed (addicted) to it at office that I wanted it badly on my Linux machine at home. And, my wish came true.

Mac's Expose equivalent is Linux Compiz's Scale Plugin. Its just awesome. Just activate it and set the shortcut key according to your choice and you are all set to go.

Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference: Free Ebook

2009-08-30T10:36:00.002+05:30

Keir Thomas, a very prominent writer of Linux books has written a great book on Ubuntu in form of Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference. More offer he is offering the book as free download legally. So Grab your copy now, and start exploring Ubuntu. Start living, open source way.

You can download it from here.

Linux Tech Tip Videos

2009-08-22T08:01:00.004+05:30

If you a re a Linux enthusiast like I am then probably you will these Tech Tip Video's from Linux Journal very handy. Each video teaches you cool new things which you can try and there are tons of them.

From "File Manipulation to ARP to Editing Source Code" ... knowledge every techie should have in his toolbox.

You can view or download them from - Linux Journal Video's

Ubuntu Installation Hangs at "Configuring Apt -- Scannning Mirrors"

2009-08-19T19:21:00.002+05:30

While trying to install Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) my installation freezed at screen with title "Configuring Apt" and message "Scanning Mirrors".

Solution - Disconnect from any network (my case Ethernet) and restart the installation.

Tip - Always disconnect any network while installing any operating system in general.

Apple Blessing/Curse -- Keep Innovating

2009-08-16T17:30:00.003+05:30

Apple products are great and way ahead of their of their competitors. But, they have a deadly weakness which I think they are going to pay for sooner or later. Apple is the most opaque company ever, even opaquer than Microsoft. At one time I thought it was something that was not possible, Microsoft after all was opaque enough beast. Apple's biggest threat is not Microsoft or Google but in my opinion is Open Source Community. OSC may be slow but is a unstoppable juggernaut which is never far behind the best, but unfortunately also never in front most of the time.

Apple has indeed set a bar way up the hill but it must not be complacent about it. They may have the best engineers in the world but until they keep on innovating forever they can't match the combined strength of rest of engineering might of the world put together.

In the end I believe Apple will sonly how the way like they did through touch in Iphone. But, no matter how much patent and copyright they file. Open source community will catch up with them, which will result in production of a far superior product at far lower price.

Star Trek 2009

2009-06-07T10:40:00.004+05:30

Watched this great movie yesterday, and from my side its 10/10. This movie is probably the best star trek movie I have ever seen and I have watched them all.

The story is quiet bold and adventurous. Sound is uber cool too and the screenplay is just outstanding.

Also there are 2 moral of the stories -

1. Time travel can really mess thing up.

2. This one more relevant to real world -- "One with bigger cannons, call the shots."

Finally Messed My Computer!

2009-06-05T20:36:00.005+05:30

Trying to install stupid MAC on my PC, I just crashed everything. Corrupted both my linux and windows O.S. .

A Great oppurtunity to rid my computer of both windows and apple crap and also to update my Linux ubuntu to 7.10 to 9.04.

Pornographic Personal Homepage, Courtesy Free Hosting

2009-06-02T23:24:00.004+05:30

Question: Why should you not put your personal homepage on free web hosting?

Answer: Because they may add smoking backside of chicks (Ones you probably never ever get to date in your life) on the most important web presence page of your existence, right next to your resume.

Now I am realing laughing my ass off imagining the impression the person accessing my homepage will be getting about me from this. Fortunately I don't care much about it considering it is already so messed up (Half the world this I am crazy and rest half think I am weird, which is probably semi-true keeping in reference "My Things to Before I Die List"and for some reason I don't give a damn!).

Still nobody can stop me enjoying this moment. He he ..

Note to self: Got to extract some money from already bankrupt account (Ruined by XBOX 360 + 40" LCD) to buy a descent hosting, ASAP.

Joined Wirkle @ Software Engineer

2009-06-01T14:49:00.003+05:30

College (22nd May) is over and new phase in life has begun. I have joined wirkle technologies today (1st June) and in fact I am writing this blog post from the office on my very first day. The culture here is really warm and my intial perception is very positive but its probably too early to draw conclusion (Hardly spent 4 hours here uptil now). I am looking forward to have a long and prosperous stay here.

My Post here is as a Software Engineer and I will be working on Iphone application development platform, which I hope to learn a lot from since I am not only to IPHONE SDK but also to the MAC enviorment(Who uses MAC in India after all :D).

IPL Final : Battle of Underdogs

2009-05-24T14:43:00.003+05:30

Being a avid cricket fan and a Indian, watching IPL (Indian Premier League) is a must. Gladly out of 8, the 2 teams in final which will be playing today's evening (IST) are my hot favorites, Deccan Chargers Vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore, if not the hottest (Delhi Daredevils, of course!).

No matter which team wins, I will be happy since most of the teams I didn't like didn't made it to the semi's. Yipee !!!!

The peculiar thing about this final is that the 2 teams in the final this time finished last in the previous year tournament. In other words the teams 7th and 8th last time will finish 1st and 2nd this time. This shows the beauty of IPL, doesn't it??

Image Courtesy: http://www.livecricketnews.in/

Love Story by Erich Segal

2009-05-24T14:13:00.003+05:30

Looking to pass some time between my college ending and new job I decided to do some reading to pass my time which is now days passing all too slowly. So, I got my hands on this book which was chosen from the shelf of my elderly brother like friend Chirag Taneja. Honestly I decided to start reading this one because probably it was the smallest one there. Though, It was a love novel which I usually don't read, boy I am glad I read this one.

It is 1970's classic which I came to know only after I have finished it. I finished it in 3 hours continuous reading. Language is simple and easy to understand, not flowery at all.

Story is also simple which normal people like me can associate to. Its story of love gain and lost of a young couple very deeply in love who got separated due one's death. To learn how and why, you can read it your self. I don't write spoilers.

I am both happy and sad that I finished it quickly. Because, now I need to find something else to read before the spare time drive me crazy.

Burnout Revenge @ Xbox 360 -- What a Game !!!

2009-05-23T16:32:00.003+05:30

My foray into console gaming (Xbox 360) is a new one, though I am a veteran PC gamer. But until now I have not played a racing game so intense and enthralling as Burnout Revenge.

This game simply blows you and your virtual car away every now and then with astounding graphics and sound. In my LCD on FULL HD, you can even see the screws holding your car tires flying away during crash, its insane.

It is awesome fun to play in a 2 player mode when you friends comes over. If you got a 360 it is one game you must have. Probably then you will never have to buy another racing game ever.

Video Seminar : World is Flat @ MIT

2009-05-23T16:23:00.004+05:30

This seminar is given by the renowned writer and columnist Thomas L. Friedman on his book World is Flat. He covers many relevant topics today's globalized world and uncovers world's current economic prejudices with vivid examples.

I have not read his book yet, but I assure its on my must read list and I will be grabbing a copy ASAP.

India also features many time in his speech and for us Indians who are very much dependent on globalization this is a must watch.

MIT World

2009-05-23T12:56:00.004+05:30

MIT or Massachusetts Institute of Technology, every engineers dream place to study all over the world. Unfortunately not every one of us including me are able to fulfill their MIT dream. For us the internet provides an elegant solution to experience a part of this great institute, from a distance though.

MIT World is a website which contains a video collection of a large numbers of public events in which one of the finest brains in the world come as guest speaker.

If you have internet and will to learn there is no way you will keep yourself from drinking from this great resvoir of knowledge public available to everyone anywhere in the world.

Better India, Better World : N R Narayana Murthy

2009-05-23T12:27:00.004+05:30

Better India, Better World is a collection of speeches given by the simplistic yet charismatic Indian IT Entrepreneur N R Narayana Murthy. It is a must read for everyone especially people in IT and the entire India.

The book is not some IT DIY manual but covers a myriad topics, which when worked upon hasd potential to improve the standard of not only India but entire world.

N R Narayana Murthy is one of the most honest entrepreneur world has ever seen and a perfect example of a compassionate capitalist the world is in dire need of. The book gives you a deep insight into his mind and his values which he succesfully imparted to his spectacular organization Infosys.

He is one of the few people I respect from Heart and I put him in same league as my Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and DMRC Chief E.Sreedharan when it comes to strength of character.

This book is must read especially for budding entreprenuer like me. The biggest lesson from the book is never to compromise on your value and integrity no matter what the circumstances are.

Finally an Engineer !!!

2009-05-23T11:20:00.002+05:30

I gave my final engineering exam yesterday evening and after 4 years I am glad its finally over. There is a pain though that my college friends will be separated but it is overshadowed by the pleasure of knowing that I don't have to study anymore at least for few years while I gain some work experience in the industry.

Though my parents would love nothing more than me continuing my study and do master, unfortunately I am not mentally prepared to study any more. 21 years of continous studying, first school then college has taken a toll on me and though I would love to do a post graduation but frankly 2 more years of education in a row, I can't practically survive. So plan is to put on hold my studies for at least 2 years to replenish my brain energy for studying further.

I finally be now entering another phase in my life and timing can't be worse. Though job in today's recession depressed environment would be tough, Its a challenge I am looking forward to.

Now, I am 100% Engineer !!!

Fetching Tommorow's Weather Forecast: VB Script

2009-05-17T17:21:00.001+05:30

This VBScript code I wrote can get you tommorow's weather forecast from the internet using Yahoo! Weather XML Feed which is updated every 10 minutes. It is currently getting New Delhi's weather, update the URL in the code to your city.

Dim WshShell

Set WshShell = createobject("wscript.shell")
strURL = "www.yahoo.com"
wscript.echo ("Getting Weather Forecast")
set png = WshShell.exec("ping -n 1 " & strURL)
strPing = lcase(png.stdout.readall)

Select Case True

Case InStr(strPing, "reply from") > 1

Dim objHttp

Dim html ,Lines, Count, Line, Position, Target, InPosition, Length, TLength

Set objHttp = CreateObject("Msxml2.ServerXMLHTTP")
objHttp.Open "GET", "http://xml.weather.yahoo.com/forecastrss?p=INXX0038&u=c", False

objHttp.Send

html = objHttp.ResponseText

Lines = Split(html, "<BR />")

Count=UBound(Lines)

For i=0 to Count

Line = Lines (i)
Position = InStr(Line,"Full Forecast at Yahoo! Weather")
if Position <> 0 then
Target = Lines (i)
Inposition = InStr(Target,"<br />")
Length = Len (Target)
TLength = Length - Inposition - 6
Target = right (Target, TLength)
Inposition = InStr(Target,"<br />")
Target = left (Target, Inposition-1)
Exit For
end if
Next

Target = Replace (Target,"Mon ","Monday")
Target = Replace (Target,"Tue ","Tuesday")
Target = Replace (Target,"Wed ","Wednesday")
Target = Replace (Target,"Thu ","Thursday")
Target = Replace (Target,"Fri ","Friday")
Target = Replace (Target,"Sat ","Saturday")
Target = Replace (Target,"Sun ","Sunday")

wscript.echo ("Tomorrow's Weather Forecast," & Target & ", Degree Centigrades")

Case Else
wscript.echo ("Error, Unable to Connect to Internet")

End Select

Getting Outside Weather Conditions: VB Script

2009-05-17T17:19:00.001+05:30

This VBScript code I wrote can get you current outside weather conditons such as sunny, haze, etc. from the internet using Yahoo! Weather XML Feed which is updated every 10 minutes. It is currently fetching New Delhi's Data, modify the URL in the code to your city.

Dim WshShell

Set WshShell = createobject("wscript.shell")
strURL = "www.yahoo.com"
wscript.echo ("Obtaining Weather Status")
set png = WshShell.exec("ping -n 1 " & strURL)
strPing = lcase(png.stdout.readall)

Select Case True

Case InStr(strPing, "reply from") > 1

Dim objHttp

Dim html ,Lines, Count, Line, Position, Target, InPosition, Length, TLength

Set objHttp = CreateObject("Msxml2.ServerXMLHTTP")
objHttp.Open "GET", "http://xml.weather.yahoo.com/forecastrss?p=INXX0038&u=c", False

objHttp.Send

html = objHttp.ResponseText

Lines = Split(html, "<br />")

Count=UBound(Lines)

For i=0 to Count

Line = Lines (i)
Position = InStr(Line,"Current Conditions")
if Position <> 0 then
Target = Lines (i+1)
Inposition = InStr(Target,",")
Target = left (Target, Inposition-1)
Exit For
end if

Next

wscript.echo ("Weather Outside is" & Target)

Case Else
wscript.echo ("Error, Unable to Connect to Internet")
End Select

Fetching Current Temprature: VB Script

2009-05-17T17:15:00.002+05:30

This VBScript code I wrote can get you current waether in degree centigrade from the internet using Yahoo! Weather XML Feed which is updated every 10 minutes. It is currently fetching New Delhi's temprature, update the URL in the code to your city.

Dim WshShell

Set WshShell = createobject("wscript.shell")
strURL = "www.yahoo.com"
wscript.echo ("Retrieving Temprature")
set png = WshShell.exec("ping -n 1 " & strURL)
strPing = lcase(png.stdout.readall)

Select Case True

Case InStr(strPing, "reply from") > 1

Dim objHttp

Dim html ,Lines, Count, Line, Position, Target, InPosition, Length, TLength

Set objHttp = CreateObject("Msxml2.ServerXMLHTTP")
objHttp.Open "GET", "http://xml.weather.yahoo.com/forecastrss?p=INXX0038&u=c", False

objHttp.Send

html = objHttp.ResponseText

Lines = Split(html, "<br />")

Count=UBound(Lines)

For i=0 to Count

Line = Lines (i)
Position = InStr(Line,"Current Conditions")
if Position <> 0 then
Target = Lines (i+1)
Inposition = InStr(Target,",")
Length = Len (Target)
TLength = Length - Inposition
Target = right (Target,TLength)
Target = left (Target, 4)
Exit For
end if

Next

wscript.echo (Target & "Degree Centigrade")

Case Else
wscript.echo ("Error, Please Check Your Internet Connection")
End Select

Getting Today's Weather Forecast: VB Script

2009-05-17T17:01:00.002+05:30

This VBScript code I wrote can get you today's weather forecast from the internet using Yahoo! Weather XML Feed which is updated every 10 minutes. It is currently fetching Delhi's weather, update the URL in the code to your city.

Dim WshShell

Set WshShell = createobject("wscript.shell")
strURL = "www.yahoo.com"
wscript.echo ("Getting Weather Forecast")
set png = WshShell.exec("ping -n 1 " & strURL)
strPing = lcase(png.stdout.readall)

Select Case True

Case InStr(strPing, "reply from") > 1

Dim objHttp

Dim html ,Lines, Count, Line, Position, Target, InPosition, Length, TLength

Set objHttp = CreateObject("Msxml2.ServerXMLHTTP")
objHttp.Open "GET", "http://xml.weather.yahoo.com/forecastrss?p=INXX0038&u=c", False

objHttp.Send

html = objHttp.ResponseText

Lines = Split(html, "<BR />")

Count=UBound(Lines)

For i=0 to Count

Line = Lines (i)
Position = InStr(Line,"Full Forecast at Yahoo! Weather")
if Position <> 0 then
Target = Lines (i)
Inposition = InStr(Target,"<br />")
Length = Len (Target)
TLength = Length - Inposition - 6
Target = right (Target, TLength)
Inposition = InStr(Target,"<br />")
Target = left (Target, Inposition-1)
Exit For
end if

Next

Target = Replace (Target,"Mon ","Monday")
Target = Replace (Target,"Tue ","Tuesday")
Target = Replace (Target,"Wed ","Wednesday")
Target = Replace (Target,"Thu ","Thursday")
Target = Replace (Target,"Fri ","Friday")
Target = Replace (Target,"Sat ","Saturday")
Target = Replace (Target,"Sun ","Sunday")

wscript.echo ("Todays Weather Forecast." & Target)

Case Else
wscript.echo ("Error, Unable to Connect to Internet")
End Select

Command Output in Dos Variable

2009-05-09T22:37:00.003+05:30

While working in command line, I wanted to output the result of command function (such as inbuilt time) into a Dos variable.

In this case, this command came very handy which uses for --

for /f "tokens=*" %a in ('time /t') do set test=%a

Above command outputs the value of time /t dos command into a dos variable called test.

You can test its value by echoing it with echocommand below --

echo Time is %test%

Made My Vote Count

2009-05-07T14:30:00.003+05:30

Today is the voting for most important election of my country India, in my hometown Delhi. The National Assembly polls and first thing I did in the morning was going out there and vote.

If you have not cast your vote yet. I request you to do so.

I hope the voter turnout in the Delhi is so high it shock everyone, especially those lazy Mumbaikars.

My New Telly

2009-05-07T14:23:00.004+05:30

Just bought a new television or to be more precise huge gaming monitor. A 40 inch mammoth with state of the art tech specifications.

Its a Sony KLV-40V 550A.

Its great to watch as a TV but the real stunning effects come in playing Xbox 360 Games in FULL HD.

Note: There doesn't seem to be any recession in India because .... we don't buy on CREDIT.

P.S.: Next Step is to get it wall mounted.

Star Trek TV Series -- Download All

2009-05-01T17:55:00.003+05:30

I am a very big fan of Star Trek TV Series. The reason is simple, it is the near perfect realization of my ultimate fantasy of colonizing space and exploring the unknown. That's why I have personally watch all of them.

I have downloaded them from torrents and they are some massive beasts. Each series has 7 seasons or more whose rips comes around 60-70 GB total.

Below I give you the links for downloading I personally use ->

The Next Generation - http://www.mininova.org/tor/1268237

Deep Space Nine - http://www.mininova.org/tor/1391104

Voyager - http://www.mininova.org/tor/561199

Enterprise - http://www.mininova.org/tor/1624667

Anyway torrents is the only source of download since there are No DVD's available here :( .

5 Things I am Crazy About

2009-03-19T19:21:00.005+05:30

I haven't blog from a long time and I have been planning to kick start this blog for a long time. What better way to do that than to give out my 5 top most hidden desires.

So Here's a list of 5 things I am most crazy about -

5. Girls - I think me being a hetro-sexual guy, it is something expected from me. The teen hollywood flicks and girls in Delhi Metro always set my race pulsing.

4. Programming - I am a complete geek. Programming is probably the most boring things in life of many, but I simply love it. When I program I simply loose track of time. It is probably only thing I am very good at, one thing I am perhaps born to do.

3. Gaming - It is something I am definitely addicted to. It is one of the prime reason for my Dad annoyance about me, but I can't help it. I thinks it keeps feeding my inner child and keeps me young from the heart. In a way its really good for me.

2. Indian Defense - I don't know why but all the hi-tech military equipments and strategy drive me nuts. One of my dream is India becoming a full fledged supreme military power. It is also one of my biggest paradox. I admit I am war monger and follow the war news all over the world, but I also want that war to keep away from my borders.

1. Space - My ultimate fantasy. I want nothing more than breakthrough this planetary cage and head toward the infinity of the space. It is my ultimate desire is to see the colonization of solar system if not entire space in my lifetime. I want to live in Space age so bad.

It is my belief that desires are very important for a person. It makes life worth while to live. Something to live forward for.

What I Believe In.

2008-12-14T21:30:00.006+05:30

"If you stand for what you believe in, you can change the world."

This sentence send me into a lot of mental turmoil. What do I believe in? Do I believe in anything worth believing.

Only one thought came to my mind.

United India

Somebody has to undone this partition. Someone has to stand up. If that someone is me, So be it.

Terrorism is nothing but pains from the unhealed wounds of partition.

Windows SteadyState

2008-12-14T15:27:00.003+05:30

Most of the stuff created by Microsoft is crap, but this Microsoft seem to have created something genuinely useful but only for its genuine users.

If a computer is shared by multiple share users it generally becomes a pot full of malwares and turn into a super slow machine. Windows steady state provides an elegant solution and best part is that its free.

One place I can easily recommend where it is directly applicable is my college Lab Computers. There are potentially thousands of other practical situations where this system can come handy.

So Download Windows SteadyState and give it a try.

Free Gmail Stickers

2008-12-07T14:50:00.003+05:30

Google's Gmail Team is giving out free Vinyl Stickers. Grab your own copy while the stock last.

All you have to do is send a self addressed envelope to ->

Send me some Gmail stickers already
P.O. Box 391420
Mountain View, CA 94039-1420

In case you are in India procedure is a little bit complicated and you have to send IRC Coupons along side.

Is Your Username Available?

2008-12-05T12:07:00.005+05:30

If you are like me, you want own the same Username on all of the tons of web services out there. I personally prefer Username:anujpathania and tried to be the sole authority of it on the web.

I came across this high useful web tool called Username Check which pings 68 services to see if your Username is taken or not.

My personal result was like this ->

It seems either I have missed the bus on some sites or I have already registered myself on them earlier and forgot about them.

Also tons of them seem to still be available, so now I will take your leave because I have some web holes in need to plug.

My New Blog on My Life

2008-12-05T09:52:00.005+05:30

I already have a famous establish blog. So the first question why to start another blog?

Well I used my this Blogger blog to write about every thing my life, my profession, my thoughts, my code snippets and every damn thing I can think about. As a result my blog got pretty messy. So I decided its time for separation from now on.

This blog will be my professional blog while the new blog will be personal one.

This new blog will be my life’s journal. Where I am going to write about only my personal thoughts, happenings in my life and people around me. Nothing else. I will spice it up with pictures, audio and videos from my personal life. Content there would be more visual in nature.

While in my this blog, I will use it to write my views about stuff, tech articles, coding snippets and other stuff not related to my personal life. Content in this will be will be more textual in nature.

So I hope I can keep that journal beautiful and this blog professionally informative .

Joined Friend Feed

2008-11-30T19:56:00.002+05:30

Just Joined Friend Feed. Check out my cool friend feed URL.

Friend Feed is a cool website which creates a custom combined feed from all the various web services feed you use. Its quite cool for you and your friends to checkout your web activities.

Unfortunately none of my web contacts has a friend feed account. So I hope some will hop on soon. Unfortunately very few Indians are tech savvy as I am.

Total Comment Count in Blogger

2008-11-30T18:18:00.009+05:30

Sometime back I wrote a script to count the total post in the blog. There Martin Kis commented asking for a total comments count, so I am doing this post. This post is dedicated to him.

In this post I am going to tell how you can display count of the total number of comments made on all the post combined, on your blogger blog. You can directly display this number or extract in a variable and use it to do something totally awesome. The HTML/JAVA script is given below and I have tested it on blogger. Feel free to edit it and customize it according to your needs.

Replace "http://yourblog.blogspot.com" with your blogspot address. If you are wondering how this code works, it works on the basis of your blog's feed and is quite simple to understand if you know java script. Otherwise just cut copy paste.

For some reason it doesn't work or give error just pop in a comment and I will see to it.

Kshitij 2009, IIT Kharagpur

2008-11-30T11:16:00.002+05:30

Kshitij, the annual techno-management fest of IIT kharagpur. Kshitij 2009 is going to be held between 29th January and 1st February. IIT fest are always a pleasure to go with lot of youth fun.

I am not sure I will be able to go there myself, I think I have a holiday trip to Aurangabad already planned during that period. But, if you can clear your schedule for this it will be totally worth it.

Vote Delhi Vote

2008-11-29T12:07:00.005+05:30

If you are a Delhite (Living in Delhi), just in case you don't know there is voting for state assembly today. So get your ass up and go out there and make your existence felt.

Though it may sound hypocritical, I am not voting today. I am on a work trip to Pathankot. I tried to arrange it around the voting day but unfortunately due to some reason beyond my control I was not able to work to out. So for a little compensation I am writing this post, which I know is not enough. Nevertheless I love my right to vote.

In case you are curious, I was going to vote for Congress, because of all the progress Delhi has made under its rule. Though this is just my opinion and I don't want anyone endorse it. Also otherwise I am not a congress supporter at national level.

Bloody Borders

2008-11-24T09:21:00.005+05:30

I was going through a article called, Blood borders: How a better Middle East would look! publish in Army Journal by Ralph Peters. Its based on a hypothesis that peace will prevail if Middle east borders are redefined. The image below show the proposed new borders.

I appreciate the fact that India has been left untouched but theoretically our neighbor country Pakistan has been raped into pieces and that's so sad. "There is a bit of India in every Pakistani and vice-versa". India and Pakistan should never have been separated but unfortunately they did. Now see how next to impossible it is to get them together again.

My point is that its easy to separate country into pieces based on petty differences but not so easy to get them together ever again. If you observe, Universe is huge compared to us humans. Soon we will be expanding into its endless borders, so why limit us with these borders on our very home planet.

The world population should be coming together instead of diverging out. The only lasting peace would be world without borders. It can be achieved only through a religion of tolerance and faith in humanity.

I see no borders from space, do you??

Stage Set for Ultimate Phone

2008-11-23T14:26:00.003+05:30

Smart Phones are the latest in things and I am still dragging along with almost 2 year old sucker Nokia 6233. Its a great image dampener in college, I know I am just pandering to my peer pressure but I don't find anything wrong with it so I will continue to do so.

I have been thinking of changing my handset for quite some time. I am not a millionaire yet so I want my new phone to last for quite sometime before I need to move on from it.

There are some really cool mobiles available in the market currently but there is gut feeling inside warning me they won't probably last long and will be outdated soon. Want to know why?

The current hot handsets in the markets which I know about are Apple's IPhone, Nokia N96, HTC Diamond and Samsung Omnia.

Now both Diamond and Omnia are promising phones but they still not pack a strong enough punch. Diamond has a tiny-tiny screen and Omnia probably will continue the Samsung legacy curse of not supporting myriad variety of essential mobile apps.

So the real competetion lies between the N96 and Iphone. Iphone has a deadly inteface, nearly reaching perfection a touch screen can offer. But ... its a sucks in features, a 2 MP camera and no video recording, WTF.

Similarly N96 has probably reach the pinnacle when comes to features a mobile handset should provide. Still I don't see any point in buying a smartphone without multi-touch interface anymore. Apple has sure raised the interface expectation bar.

I can bet Nokia is diverting all its energy now in building the next-gen touch interface while on the other hand Apple must be sweating hard to put a good camera into that slim figure while slimming it further in the process. Also I bet memmory will be double in next generation, Omnia has alerady reach the mammoth 32 GB level.

Finally I would love to buy Nokia phone over Apple because they can be used with any GSM provider and they are most importantly "hacker friendly".

So I feel the ultimate handset is just around the corner and I see no point in buying a one of the above now and get stuck with it for next 2 years.

Blogging Break Over

2008-11-23T13:38:00.002+05:30

I have not been blogging for almost 2 months except for few sporadic post. Well to be honest I am not sure why I took that break.

But for some reason I am happy I did. Now I am back in business and this time I will blog better and blog more than previously.

Save Mobuzz - My Favourite Show on Web is Dying

2008-11-06T00:10:00.002+05:30

Mobuzz is my favorite show on the web. I am so addicted to it.

Unfortunately they are running out of gas($$) and they are asking the netizens for help.

God damn it, If I had a lot of money I would never have let this show go down. For now I have made my paltry contribution via spreading the word and probably a donation soon, some how I am not able to add funds to my paypal due to my country's restriction.

Practical Behavioural Pricing

2008-10-27T13:04:00.006+05:30

In my company generally its my job to discuss the work with clients, settle the price and close the deal on a particular monetary quote. Believe me it's not all easy. Its a very challenging job with a high failure rate. In the process you risk damaging the relationship with the client to extent of completely loosing business from him.

In such a scenario a small and humble yet powerful knowledge about behavioral pricing comes very handy. It is based on a very simple economics, still it has a wide application in real market.

Economics is difficult to state theoretically but is quite easy to understand from real world practical examples.

Lets say there 2 companies, one of the two is mine and other is my competitor. We are in the same business and selling the same service.

Case 1: Lets say a client comes to my competitor first and ask for a quotation. He humbly quote the usual marginal price say Rs20000 at start which he can not lower further to maintain his margins. Customer tries to haggle but he refuse to decrease the asking price. Customer gets dissatisfied and doesn't buy the services.

Case 2: Lets say a client comes to me first and ask for a quotation. I quote a little higher price say Rs30000 at start. Customer tries to haggle but I refuse to decrease the asking price in the beginning. Later after lot of persuasion and cajoling I come down to Rs 25000. Customer immediately buys the service even though I get 5000 more rupees than the usual. Also I provide my client my higher satisfaction and positive EQ.

Case 3. Lets say a client comes to my competitor first and ask for a quotation. He humbly quote the usual marginal price say Rs20000 at start which he can not lower further to maintain his margins. Customer tries to haggle but he refuse to decrease the asking price. Customer gets dissatisfied and doesn't buy the services. Now he comes to me and ask for quotation. I quote a little higher price say Rs30000 at start. Customer tries to haggle but I refuse to decrease the asking price in the beginning. Later after lot of persuasion and cajoling I come down to Rs 25000 and finally to Rs. 20000. In such scenario the customer is likely to buy the service from me rather than my comeptetior even through we are both offering the same price.

Do you see whats happening above? More than buying the service the customer derives more satisfaction form wining the bargaining negotiation from me. In a nutshell it means that buyer doesn't derive the value from the purchase on the actual price but from whether we arrive at that price after negotiation.

Of course, a astute sellers always know you and I like to bargain so quotes his price accordingly.

More Adsense Login = More Adsense Revenue

2008-10-25T23:49:00.004+05:30

This plainly a calculated guess. After lot of experience with Google Adsense, it is my observation that increase in frequency of login into my Adsense account increase my Adsense income proportionately.

How Google allot money in Adsense on a click is a mystery known on to Google. All we can do from outside is Guess.

Due to my some offline commitments I have been away from the online world for quite some time and consequentially haven't logged into my Adsense for quite some time.

When I started logging in at my usual frequency to my surprise there was a drastic increase in my eCPM. In my long past experience I have observed this thing many times and I don't think its mere coincidence.

In my opinion its a move by Google to pay less to the webmasters who check their account once in a long while, the put ad and forget types. Or maybe its just that Google think that if they are not logging in regularly then probably they are not interested or simply dead, so cut more out of their share who will notice.

Google Adsense can really use some transparency. Till then keep logging into your Adsense account atleast once a day, like a prescribed medicine.

My First Guitar

2008-10-11T20:14:00.002+05:30

This my first guitar, ever. My first step into the beautiful world of music. This is the first precursor of the many changes which I am going to make in my life to get myself out of my computer addiction.

I realized I was spending 12-16 hrs in front of computer, work and otherwise. This was severly affecting my social life, creativity and most of all my health. So I have now decided to bring a change in my life for good.

I hope this guitar helps me to divert my attention away from computers and web. I know its a challenge to learn guitar but its exactly the kind of creative challenge I need at the moment.

Its also nice tool to score with chicks too.

How Not to Keep Grudges !

2008-10-08T19:10:00.005+05:30

Being in a broker like job I get a lot of criticism and verbal abuse from both sides of the deal. I am in a rare job of technical brokerage and get technical projects done for customers via freelance computer specialists. As a result I am often rained with verbal bullets from both sides.

Gladly keeping my nerves and temper under control is one of the my most appreciated talent. When you get so much shit every day, its not that difficult to get hurt and take offense. Since I need to get work done by the very people igniting my rage, I often have to suppress my wrath. In such a case there is a high probability that such feelings getting silently embedded deep into subconscious as grudges against someone. Silent and latent but not peaceful.

These grudges can lead to disastrous consequences, minimum being unproductivity. But gladly I know a simple yet effective trick which works for me like charm, not allowing these negative feelings to settle down. Here I share the very same secret with you.

The secret lies in three words, "I forgive you." When ever some one offends you or hurt you, just say these 3 words in your mind on the spot, just replae "you" with his precise name.

Well its sound too simple to be effective but believe me it works like charm. Only after an hour I normally forget what the offense was and who did it. All the negative memories fade in oblivion forever.

World will be so much better place without people having vendetta against each other. Peace and prosperity will prevail over the planet.

In the end if all fails remember the last words of Christ, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do ". Though I feel very awkward as an atheist quoting them, they hold eternal wisdom applicable omniously.

Destination Moon: India's Quest for the Moon and Beyond

2008-10-06T20:22:00.003+05:30

After searching day and night for this book, I had to order it online from flipkart in the end. I have been continuously reading this book from the very first time I got my hand on it and have been glued to it ever since.

This book is the written document of India's ambition in exploring outer space starting with Chandrayaan-1 launching this OCT 22. This book is must read for every Indian who wants to see India claiming its share on the outer world.

Pallava Bagla and Subhadra Menon has done an extremely remarkable job of penning down the Indian dreams for the moon and beyond. Good Indian science writers are still a rare breed in billions of Indians, and success of books like these will surely boost the morale of writers of this genre.

In end I would like to share the opening quote of this book.

"It is not the question of whether we can afford to go to the moon. Its the question wether we can afford to ignore it." -- Dr. K. Kasturirangan

May the Chandrayaan be the start of the golden era of Indian space age.

Win A Ipod Shuffle: Wizom Forums

2008-10-04T18:59:00.003+05:30

We have just rolled out a new competition at our Wizom Forums in which we will be distributing Ipod shuffle and other cool prizes. All you have to do to win is to do postings in the forums.

This our way to reward our top contributors at the forum in exchange for thier insight and time.

Also Beware, spamming is not allowed.

Transforming India

2008-10-03T09:49:00.004+05:30

Transforming India is the current copy of India Today. I have just one word for it, Mind Blowing.

It contains articles from world renowned Indian dignitaries from all domains of work. The articles have tremendous insight and have many revolutionary thoughts.

A must read for every entrepreneur.

Of all the great articles, my favourite is by E.Sreedharan, the great man behing the most succesfull metro of the world DMRC. The thought that its not the technology but the culture in DMRC which is more responsible for its unpreceedented success is sagacious containing a lot of learning for a budding entrepreneur like me.

So go grab a copy now before it runs out.

Eid Mubarak!

2008-10-02T22:22:00.011+05:30

Festive season in India has started. Its the best time of the year for a Indians to enjoy themselves with plenty of holidays and awesome cuisine. Its the time of the year when Indian bask in the full glory of its luminous true secularity. Festivals from all the religions, whether of Hinduism, Islam or Christianity is celebrated by all Indians with equal zeal.

Eid, is the first in reveling festival in queue of many. Though I am a atheist by heart and a Hindu by birth, I celebrate all the festivals with equal positive fervor and energy, irrespective of religion. I believe festivals are more about human to come together bond, rather than God.

So to celebrate this great day, there could be no better place than my friend Mohammed Azad's home and he made it a remarkable one.

Azad

He showered us with delicacy which are not made any other time of the year. Abundantly filled with raisins and cashews, they were one of the best cuisine Islam culture had created with uttermost perfection. Here are the mouth watering pics of some of them -

And I just can't have enough of them.

Here is a group photo of all of us gathered at Azad's home on this holy day.

In the pic in clockwise direction - Saurabh, Sushant, Prateek, Mukesh, Me, Rajor, Azad, Arpit, Deepak, Hitin & Kuldeep.

In all a unforgettable day. My final EId in my college life

Google Quotes Search

2008-10-02T19:37:00.004+05:30

This a cool new feature by Google currently in its experimental lab. Through which you can search through interviews and quotations to various newspaper on popular topics by current world leaders.

I think its a pretty cool and handy feature. You can easily get to know their views which are far more important than your and mine because they have potential for changing the world. The service is available for US, UK, India and Canada. I feel very positive to see India in that list.

Go ahead, give it a spin.

Involve Internet in Irradicating Illiteracy in India

2008-10-01T19:22:00.005+05:30

This is my take on how to solve the massive burgeoning illiteracy problem in India? I am a entrepreneur in making and I am a devoted patriot. Illiteracy is severely affecting Indian potential for progress specially in a rural area.

I believe internet can make a revolutionary change in the scenario. Things which we take for granted here in urban area, the people in rural india has not even though about them in their dreams.

If we can somehow introduce internet in their life, it can totally revolutionize the rural India. There are tons of problem in implementing this ->

1. English is the language of Internet. People in rural India can't read Hindi leave aside English.

2. No computer education. These people have not even seen a computer in a life and probably never will without intervention.

3. Lot of capital is required for infrastructure and hardware.

4. Internet connectivity is not available in most of the places.

But what if we can create a sustainable or atleast no profit, no loss model. There will be a lot of wiling companies, NGOs or charity ready to invest in it. It could also get a lot of press coverage too, which is equivalent to gain of popularity and good will for investors.

Also, we need to impart both Computer as well as English education in a devoted center, with some computers to practice on. If they can learn how to find information on internet and digest it, I think will be very well continue on their own from there and maybe start teaching others too.

If we can do that the potential of the application of internet and way it can change their life is tremendous. News, Weather, Food Prices,Ebooks, A Platform to speak on and so much more ... the impact will be unprecedented.

I know its an ambitious project and with very low chances of success but I still think its feasible. I will give it my best shot and will try again and again till I make a difference for my country.

When Not to a Take Desigining Project?

2008-09-30T22:59:00.007+05:30

Well I am in now technical field for long time now. Area where I deal most is web. When it comes to web a myriad of task comes together in a single project which should be completed in tandem.

In web, designing is a common place task. Unfortunately designing is also the most notorious of job when its comes to satisfying client. Here I am going to give you a advice which I have learned after some quite bitter experiences. I am going to tell you about the few signs which you can observe and tell when to let the project go for good.

1. If your client says in the first meeting that he has no idea how the end designed project should like, its the first warning sign.

2. If you ask him to draw whatever he can imagine how end product look like in the second meeting and he fails to do that, then its the second sign.

3. If you ask me him to find you a comparable/similar design from anywhere on the web for the third meeting and he doesn't come up with anything, it is the third sign.

4. Finally if in the fourth meeting if he says he give you total freedom to design but it should be something which should blow his mind off its last and final sign.

Believe me, if even after all this you take the project it will be a real pain in the ass. You will be never able to satisfy him and you will never be able to bring out what he actually wants. It would be a chicken and egg problem.

So choose the best alternative, let the misery go looking for someone more gullible and unlucky.

Google Page Rank 2

2008-09-28T14:22:00.005+05:30

My Blog just hit Page Rank 2. I am happy that at least my blog is making some progress. My hard work and patience in the end my finally pay of.

In case, you don't what page rank is, its a value given by Google to all the websites on basis of thier importance on scale of 1-10. In a nutshell, higher your page rank; higher will be your website worth. Page rank has a direct consequence on many things such your website ad income, search engine rankings, ougoing link weight and many more.

So don't stop until you get a rank 10 like NASA.

Chinese Are Spakewalking Now !!!

2008-09-28T10:47:00.007+05:30

China took a huge step in its space program when Chinese astronauts successfully completed the space walk, and you can read all about it all over the news. What I fear though is that, does these Chinese successes in its space endeavors augur well for the future of India or that matter of fact entire human race.

It is no secret that Chinese space program is funded by its military unlike Indian space program which funded by government research budget. Probably China has Military and Strategic ambitions from its space program. NASA has kept minimal contact with Chinese for the very same reason in its space program in fear of loosing its technology to China, which will potentially find application in Chinese arsenal.

Yeah, maybe I am over criticizing China, after all USA is responsible for most of the current World violence and I have never said a word against NASA. Maybe this post is an outburst of fear of superior space nation just next to home or a origination from my distrust of the decades earlier but not forgotten Chinese backstabbing in form of 1962 War or a diatribe due to the immense financial and superiority competition of this century between the 2 countries. I admit that these reason can be behind my writing of such a post and these thoughts may not be totally justifiable.

There is nothing I want more than witness the human space age in my life time but last thing I want is to turn violent, like almost everything else in human history. If China use its space technology for peace and prosperity it would be tremendously positive for human civilization as a whole not just for Chinese.

Unfortunately unlike Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Chinese space agencies have not openly stated that their space ambitions are for peaceful useful only. Until they do so, my apprehension about the Chinese space programs and fear of its negative impact on the world is here to stay.

Also, India has to do a lot of catching up if it has to stay in the race. Come on ISRO put a god damn man in the space, ASAP.

Blog Post Hit/View Counter for Blogger (Open Source)

2008-09-25T21:13:00.029+05:30

I am Sorry this script is no longer working and is not supported any more. This script has serious scalability issues which were not kept in mind while it was being designed. It became way too popular than I expected was adding like 10,000 pages per hour which was bringing the server down because of inefficiency. Though this script will work for you for your 1 and 2 blogs flawlessly if you implement it at your server. You can download it from Here. Thank you for trying this out.

Unfortunately blogspot (blogger) does not have an inbuilt post hit counters for its blogs. I know most of you would have wanted to see the view count of each of your individual post for your self analysis as well as show it to your visitors as symbol of popularity . If you have a blog a view/hit counter is a must for you and I wonder why blogger team has not implemented one innately.

Here I am going to present a simple, clean, efficient and totally ad-free blog post hit counter create by me which can be integrated into the bloggers blogs perfectly. Also its completely free and do not require a registration. Result can be instantly seen. Just cut-copy-paste the code and you are all set.

Just follow the steps below -

1. Go to Blogger -> Dashboard -> Layout -> Edit HTML.

2. Back up your old template.

3. Click on expand widget.

-- This Code is no longer working.

4. Find the code <p><data:post.body/></p> and paste the code below directly above it.

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<div id='hit-counter'>
<p><i><font color='#666666'><script src='http://wizom.net/counter.php' type='text/javascript'/> Views </font></i></p>
</div></b:if>

5. Save your template.

6. Test your hit counter.

This is an experimental script yet it can't be more efficient and simple. But, this script comes with no warranty what so ever. At worse it will stop working, nothing else.

Currently the brain script behind this is uploaded on a free web server (limited). Its not reliable one so it may go down sometime, till I moved to a better one you will probably have to bear with it. If it gains popularity and probably some donations then I will be moving it to dedicated server. Also feel free to modify above code to suit your requirements.

Also if you face any problem with this script pop in a comment below and I will see to it immediately.

Also because I got so many people asking for source code in comments and mail, I am releasing the code under GPL (General Public License). A link back will be appreciated but not necessary.

Please Download it from Here.

Project 10^100: Google's 10 Million Competetion

2008-09-25T20:16:00.006+05:30

Project 10^100 is a Competition where Google has offer a prize money of $10 million. Which is quite good compared to fact that same Google is offering only 3 thrice the amount, $30 million to put a rover on moon.

All you have to do is a submit a revolutionary idea.

Here is a cute girl with really nice voice presenting a video of a idea of energy from water to Google ->

Running PHP Code Using Javascript

2008-09-24T14:01:00.004+05:30

If you are web programmer you are going to love this post. In this post I am going to tell you, "How You Can Run External PHP Code Using Javascript" ? If you know this it will be a mighty tool in your tool kit, giving you endless possibility of creating new stuff for example cool and handy website or blog widgets. This knowledge will break the barriers for you between the server-sided and client sided code.

The procedure has to divided in two steps -

1. Create the necessary PHP script on your web server but remember to add this line of code at the top.

Header("content-type: application/x-javascript");

Lets say you uploaded the PHP file at website source.com with name script.php. Also your output or PHP echo should be javascript display function document.write () .

2. Add this java script code snippet where you want the output of your PHP code to be displayed.

That's it. Now you can use power of PHP on pages which are on even HTML pages.

Finally let me end this post with an example. I will write a simple widget to display the visitor his IP Address. I will be uploading it on my website "www.anujpathania.com" with name "showip.php". The PHP code in it will be -

<?
Header("content-type: application/x-javascript");
$IP=$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
echo "document.write(\"Your IP Address is: <b>".$IP."</b>\")";
?>

Now the Javascript for embedding will be -

Output will be -

I hope you appreciate the power of this as much as I do.

How to Create a HTML On Click Select All Text Box?

2008-09-24T08:55:00.009+05:30

This is one handy trick or piece of code for Web Designers/Developers. The JavaScript & HTML code given below will create a text box whose all text content will be selected automatically when the user click on the text box itself. Like this one ->
The code for this ->

If you want to create a separate select all button then take take a look at : Select All Button in HTML Form - Java Script

My Favorite use for this is to create a clean and easy Code Box.

PHP IP Logging Script

2008-09-24T08:40:00.006+05:30

In this post I plan to introduce an IP Address Recording Script.IP Address is a 32 Bit address given to every unique computer on the web to distinguish it from rest of the machines on the web. IP Address Logs can be a very handy tool for analysis by webmasters. So here in this post I am going to give a simple PHP script which will log all the IP of visitors on your website with every impression. Log will be created in an ever expanding HTML file "ips.html", along with date of visit and page accessed.

Code ->

<?php
$ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
$pagina = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$datum = date("d-m-y / H:i:s");
$invoegen = $datum . " - " . $ip . " - " . $pagina . "<br />";
$fopen = fopen("ips.html", "a");
fwrite($fopen, $invoegen);
fclose($fopen);
?>

This code will also come very handy in detecting hacking attempts and DOS/DDOS attacks. The best use of it though is the ability to track your website users navigation with it.

Why All My Web Albums Looks Homosexual?

2008-09-23T20:53:00.005+05:30

Yesterday one of my very sexy email friend from Canada who for some reason is very interested in my boring life asked me an very appropriate but awkward question. She asked "Why almost all my web albums are almost filled only with boys including my social networking profiles?" and I ended up somehow explaining her that I am not gay over an email.

Next thing, I scrolled through all my uploaded pics on web and noticed that her observation was indeed spot on. Then I decided to write this blog post in hope to find out the reason behind this embarrassing anomaly.

Yeah the its true that number of female breed in my life has drastically come down when I moved on from my high school to my college. The simple reason is that in my high school I was in an estrogen dominated medical section with just 7 boys in class of 40 and in college I ended up a testosterone pumped class with just 8 girls in a class of 90. Yeah the sex ratio in my class is really messed up and sad saga is story of almost every technical engineering college in the country. Also I didn't carried any serious relationship from school to college in hope of starting fresh. Boy, what a disaster that turned out to be.

Still I do have adequate if not abundant number of opposite sex in my life and I can not blame my college and tons of class buddy pics alone to make me look like a homo.

There are few other contributing reasons too. The most of the girls I go out on dates, picnics and trip are already committed. I know I am rascal. Though they cheerfully take snaps with me they warn me on posting their pics with me on blogs or social websites, advising me to not to provocate their boy friends wrath and rage toward me. Yikee!!! I hate bleeding over girls.

Now there are also some single ones too which I date but due to conservative Indian society they are afraid of their photos in the cloud falling in the hands of family and relatives. Next thing I know, her parents calling my parents for finding a mutually suitable date for marriage.

Finally there are my companion girls who are afraid that their digital photos will be misused by desperate psychos on the web and mysteriously appear on porn sites. Well there are some crazy bastards out their but isn't there enough supermodels and celebrities pic to quench their desires. Anyway if they do have a face of porn star or a super model they would surely not have ended up clicking with a ordinary guy like me.

I think I have summarize all the points I could in my defense, why girls are scarce breed in my web presence. In the end, for love of god I am not gay, anyway do I look like one?

My Design Work in Action at Worldtripping Website

2008-09-23T20:40:00.003+05:30

Quite some time back, almost at the very starting of this blog I took a project from Simon Green of World Tripping. I created a bunch of icons for his website which have gone live with a brand new look with my digital art pieces.

Go check them out. Also, my all the good wishes to both Simon and Leah in completing their dream to ride across the planet. I admire their spirit of adventure and will be living vicariously through them.

Total Blog Posts Count in Blogger

2008-09-23T19:56:00.007+05:30

In this post I am going to tell how you can display the total number of blog posts you have done in your blog. You can directly display this number or extract in a variable and use it to do something totally awesome. The HTML/JAVA script is given below and I have tested it on blogger.

Now We have Say on Moon

2008-09-23T17:42:00.004+05:30

Only a handful of countries have ever send a probe to moon or even thought of exploring the moon. After US, Japan, Russia and China, its now India's turn to claim its share of dominance on earth's only natural satellite for all those who take pride in calling themselves Indian.

As the date of launching Chandrayaan-1 is coming a bit closer by every passing day, my euphoria is getting higher and higher. Every day new feelings are getting engendered inside me and getting attached to this great Indian endeavor. Now its pride.

When Chandrayaan-1 will lift towards the moon on OCT-19, it will also lift the India's standing the world. Crowing India with the title of next space powerhouse and will extend the already establish Indian prowess in business and economy to space and science.

Chandrayaan will be the hallmark of the new Indian face. The symbol of the new era in the India's history and I am proud to be attached to it, no matter how remotely.

Misreadable Domains

2008-09-23T17:18:00.003+05:30

As every body knows there is no space allowed in domain names and this could literary respell into a catastrophe. I bet you will be LMAO or ROFL if you can figure out whats wrong in the domain names below. All belong to reputed websites but I bet there owners have not given a serious look to them.

Now tell me whats wrong with these domain names -

1. Who Represents is where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity. Their Web site is -
www.whorepresents.com/

2. Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange Advice and views at
www.expertsexchange.com/

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at
www.penisland.net/

4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at
www.therapistfinder.com/

5. There’s the Italian Power Generator company,
www.powergenitalia.com/

6. And don’t forget the Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales,
www.molestationnursery.com/

7. The First Cumming Methodist Church Web site is
www.cummingfirst.com/

8. And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky Web site,
www.speedofart.com/

Did you get it? No .... Look out of the box. Still no ... sad, ok then let me help you. But, Answers are humorous but sexual in nature so a little discretion is advice.

Look at them carefully with a new angle -

www.whorepresents.com/ ->WHORE-PRESENTS

www.expertsexchange.com/ -> EXPERT-SEX-CHANGE

www.penisland.net/ -> PENIS-LAND

www.therapistfinder.com/ -> THE-RAPIST-FINDER

www.powergenitalia.com/ -> POWER-GENITAL

www.molestationnursery.com/-> MOLESTATION-NURSERY (My Favourite)

www.cummingfirst.com/ -> CUMMING-FIRST

www.speedofart.com/ -> SPEED-O-FART

See now wasn't that fun.

Source

US Bailout Package = Full Blown Recession

2008-09-23T16:37:00.004+05:30

Call me a pessimist but from what I see US Government's Bail out package seems to me the final nail into the world economy's coffin. Pouring money over a problem caused by excessive money is just like extinguishing fire with oil. Next stop The Greater Depression.

US Government's overall bail out package is estimated to be approximately 1.8 Trillion Dollars by combination of purchases, investments, allowances and special permits. $1.8 Trillion, Wow!!! Almost double than what my country earns in a year.

From what I read US is already in a world debt of $3 Trillion. Adding Trillions of more money to this deficit is a definitely the deadliest way to trigger a full blown depression equivalent to the Great Depression of 1920 which lasted more than a year.

The worst part is that no amount of uncoupling can save rest of the world including the much touted isolated India, down along with it.The US dollar will than inevitably get weaken against most of the other world currency. Unfortunately the already tortured souls of investors will then have to face more torment due depreciating dollar.

The present credit market crisis shows all the sign of extending into the currency market. Way to go America!!!

"Read More ..." Blog Posts Style

2008-09-22T17:25:00.006+05:30

If you have been to my blog before, I bet you will observe some change today. I have changed my blog's homepage style from showing complete blog post to showing only teaser snippets of each post which can be expanded easily with one click to complete post. Its just not coincidence that almost all the prominent bloggers on the web implement it. This type of "Read More" blog structure provides umpteen number of benefits from lowering Bounce Rate to increasing Blog Revenue.

Most of the blogs in the Blogosphere suffers from the disease of high bounce rate which directly results into lower income to the poor old bloggers due to lower impression volume. As a result the people who do most of the labor in Blogosphere fail to get enough returns for their efforts. This problem is more direct consequence of blog structure, design and style rather than blog content. So in my quest to solve the this annoying issue I recommend all the serious bloggers to implements this snippet + read more strategy.

Also another advantage is that now you can pack more topics on the homepage now with the minimum possible scroll and its no secret that web surfers today hate to scroll and probably will bounce back even before your entire blog loads.

If you find this strategy practical and useful, then you should also try related post one I mentioned few days before. I just hope this help bringing down my skyrocketing bounce rate and prove useful to you as well.

If you are on blogger the procedure for implementation is unfortunately not that simple and this tutorial would help. In case of word press I have too little experienced to give any suggestion, so Googling a little should probably be best call from my end.

Horizontal Blogs Designs, Refereshingly Different

2008-09-21T18:37:00.004+05:30

Just surfing on the web I encountered this website called NonSociety. It is a combined blog of 3 hot chicks.

Beside being impressed by their looks, the geek blogger side of me also got impressed by the horizontal blog design of their blogs. I must admit they were very refreshingly different from the usual vertical blog designs you see on the web and yeah that include this blog too. Take a look at these screen shots. The blogs look pretty amazing to me.

Julia

Meghan

Mary

It would be so awesome if blogspot blogs like mine can be converted into that design. I don't think though I have such sexy pics of me ever taken though.

Also I am still not sure whether these horizontal blogs are or would be search engine friendly. For the blog of ordinary looking people like me, they do matter a lot.

Yahoo Glue Page

2008-09-21T17:49:00.011+05:30

Like most of the Netizens I encounter I am a cult follower of Google, but accidentally I came across this cool new feature in Yahoo search. Yes you heard it right, Yahoo. This is probably first time I am writing about Yahoo on my blog and I don't have personally anything against the company.

Yeah professionally I hate it because Yahoo send like 1000 times less visitors than Google to my websites , my clients website and even to my this very blog for some reasons I am yet to figure out. But, this post not about that. This post is about a beta feature I found very nice and attractive. It sure better than those classic search pages. Blended content is getting momentum over internet and people do want to search through them.

All they have done is put together a bunch of search data in various forms such as pictures, videos, popular sites along with the usual indexed search. It look cool but in fact is quite handy in finding information too. I performed a glue search for my favorite topic Chandrayaan and got a page quite informative page.

Unfortunately not many keywords can be searched in the glue, such as my own name "Anuj Pathania" and they get directed to the usual boring classic search. Maybe because it is still in Beta, but I think Yahoo may have nailed it for good this time.

I Wanna Live in Space Age

2008-09-21T13:58:00.004+05:30

I am a dreamer and that also a very passionate one. I can doze of in my day dreams (cough .. visions) for hours without a issue, running my imagination wild. At the same time I am also a geek, almost a atheist and most of all sci-fi buff. My life's biggest dream is to witness the space age before I die.

It is not that I am not moved by the nauseating problems staring in face of the human civilization, plaguing the world of today such as poverty, illness and crime. By all means I wish they go away for ever. But also we should not loose focus because of them on the human's eternal dream of breaking the bounds of this planetary restrictions.

Even my imagination fall short when I ponder what will the life be in that golden space age. How cool or not so cool it will be? In what way we will be adapting, exploring and sharing the vastness of space? Will we be sharing our lives with intelligent extra-terrestrial beings? Though the biggest question in my mind in most of all is that will I be there to witness it?

Most of the feeds I read on the Internet are space related. Also, I am keeping a close watch on developments on the India's maiden mission to Moon, Chandrayaan-1. I know chances are bleak but my happiness will be many fold, if my own country lead the leading steps of human race in the space exploration. So I am keeping my fingers crossed for Chandrayaan and whether you are a Indian or not, I request you to do the same and pray for its success.In the end all our religious, regional and racial differences are far too small in comparison to the vastness of space.

Since these dream will not be coming true soon or probably never will be completed. At least I have something to live long for and will be longing for it all the way to my very end.

21st Birthday Bash: Web Album

2008-09-19T23:37:00.005+05:30

Slide show of pics from my 21st Birthday Party @ home.

If above is not working here is the direct link to this album.

Officially 21 Now!!!.

2008-09-19T01:00:00.003+05:30

Well what can I say, other than "I made it !!!". From midnight tonight (IST) I am officially 21 year old. This probably my last birthday in this city or even this country. It is definitely going to be last in my college life and I want to make it memorable for rest of my life. As expected from me, I have some great plans for today.

Also I want to say special thanks to all my friends who took the pain to sacrificed their sleep and call me right at midnight to wish. Thanks a ton.

Cheers!!!

India Needs Entrepreneurs

2008-09-16T10:54:00.003+05:30

The "US Sneeze, India Weep" saga continues. As the Lehman Brothers, US top investment firm gone bankrupt, future of its 2500 Indian back office employee have gone dark. The same story as usual. To bring a change from usual we need to change from usual.

Indians are growing in number, will number of jobs in India are shrinking. Neither government nor the bureaucracy seem to care a tad bit about it, but are they really the one to be blame here. No one is more to blame for the misery inflicted upon by the unemployment than the very people itself who itself bear its brute force. This is a self-inflicted pain which is absolutely true, whether we accept it or not.

In India the real problems is that number of job producers are reducing as the number of job seekers are increasing. It is a world known firmly established fact that Indians are undoubtedly the most skilled people in their respective trades. So we are no short of talent but what we lack is the risk taking attitude.

The innate fears in the Indians for taking risk is something which has been holding as back for years, preventing us from unleashing the real Indian fury on the world. If we have to get out of this sand-box, the very thinking needs to be revolutionized. The youth fresh out of colleges immediately start seeking the safety of a comfortable jobs in well established firms. Nothing can be farther from the truth and the pink slips even for world renowned companies have become a stark reality. Putting our head in the sand will not help this time. If your colleague got prosecuted this time, your number is next. Its just matter of time. You are not running away from precarious bog, you are already in one.

In my opinion the very Indian education system is flawed. Their is a dire need to produce entrepreneurs who are world leaders but all what this rusty machine churns out is a meek follower, that also not in bunches but masses. No wonder we are in deep shit, when nobody is ready to take responsibility and sit in the driving seat.

If this trend continue may god save us from the chaos and suffering just around the corner. Every problem is a opportunity and it is high time that youth of this country including me pounce upon the world and take on the center stage.

The situation is ripe and the time to act is now!

Add Related Post Code to Blog Now !

2008-09-16T09:51:00.005+05:30

If you have a blog, a related post generating code is a must for you. You must have seen it on many blogs and if you think it is useless. think again. It is no coincidence that almost all the top bloggers of the web have it on their blog. If you have a content related website or content laced blog this add on can do wonders.

One of the most important benefit of this add on is that it reduces your bounce rate as well as simultaneously increase your impressions. All this indirectly lead to more income and higher user satisfaction. In a nutshell it keeps visitors on your website for a longer time.

Also another implicit positive affect which is not apparent is that this feature enhances your internal linking. Which leads to better page rank (weight age) distribution along with ensuring that more internal pages get crawled by the search engines.

The biggest advantage of this piece of code is that if it written into a smart widget, its effectiveness as well as its power increase as the amount of textual content in your website/blog increases. The simple reason being the code has more data to chew on resulting in better output churning out.

In Wordpress blogs the procedure for implementing them is quick and easy using various plugins. Unfortunately in Blogger blogs the procedure is tad bit complicated and you need to hack into your template to do so. Here is a good tutorial on how to do it. I have implemented it on my blog too and it works like charm, though I have tweaked its code a little and customized its appearance a bit to .

I have studied the code for this plug-in and unfortunately I did not find the algorithm too smart to be appealing, no offense to the creator. So I have decided to write one of my own in a near future. So stay tuned.

Web Impressions Matter

2008-09-15T11:39:00.007+05:30

In web terminology every time a visitor downloads your web page a web impression is created. A impression is created even if the page is reloaded and bundle of them is created when user navigates through your website. No matter how many you have, you should crave for more because every one of them matters.

It is very easy to see the fact that more is the web traffic to your website, more will be the impression generated by your website. It is completely true and the web traffic is indeed directly proportional to the volume of impression created.

It is however not only the web traffic which can boost number of impression to your website but in the fact how you channel your visitors to get the maximum impression out of them lies the real secret. There hundred of ways for channeling your visitors for web impressions both ethical and unethical but I will not discussing them in this post and probably reserve them for future posts. What I am going to discuss in this post is why the web impression matters and why webmasters should get as much impression as possible in their kitty.

There are many benefits of web impression but I will try to list below the 3 most important ones.

$$$ - If you are using PPI ads on your website then clearly the number of impressions is directly propotional to income your website generates. PPI ads or Pay Per Impression ads pay for every impression of their advert generated by your website. Also most of the colored, banner ads come under this category. Many advertising programs including google offer such advertisements.
Lower CTR - Even if you are not using PPI ads but PPC ads, impression which doesnot generate clicks matters. PPC ads are Pay Per Click ads and advertisers are charged only when there advertisements links are clicked. CTR stands for Click Through Rate and is a measure of how frequently the ads on your website get clicked. A High CTR can put you under the scanner and even lead to a ban.
Reduces Bounce Rate - Bounce rate is a measure of how many user prefer to navigate into your website from the landing page or the initial arrival page. A lower bounce rate can increase your website worth when presented in front of prospective buyer.

So while you are fighting for web traffic, also struggle a bit for web impression. By all means, they are worth it.

What You Expect Netizens to Pay?

2008-09-15T09:02:00.013+05:30

It was just the other day when I along with some of my co-founder of our dot come venture Wizom were discussing about a possible business model to milk the cow.

After a serious discussion for about an hour we came to conclusion that we can in no way charge from our online customers. People in the real (offline) life can spend money like hell, but when it comes to spending in the virtual(online) world they are very reluctant to do so. All this incongruity between the offline and online world can be blamed upon the habits nurtured over a long period of time in the web, something almost impossible to change.

Unlike citizens, netizens are used to get their every need fulfilled for free. The best products and services on the net are free. More so, if you try to go against this trend you will only be getting your economic model unstable, ripe to be obliterated any second. Even if you get initial success you can never gloat over it because the fear of some competition pouncing you from behind by giving the services you give with a price tag for free, always nag behind in your mind.

In a nutshell, netizens don't expect themselves to pay for anything and get every premium service for free. If you don't feed their desire for free e-world, they will simply move on to your competition.

This a stark reality which every aspiring internet entrepreneur has to accept, grudgingly.

Serial Bomb Blasts, the Usual

2008-09-14T19:20:00.008+05:30

Another Bomb blast ripped through my city last night. 5 Blasts, 21 Dead and 100+ injured.

It was another as usual Saturday night. After a hectic week of work and studies, week end is something I always look forward to get my nerves relaxed. The usual hangout place for my gang of friends is the Central Park in the heart of Delhi, Connaught Place. Unfortunately, it was also one of the prime terrorist target where 2 explosion occurred and 1 live bomb was defused.

I was just about to get ready and take the tube to CP, when one my friend who was supposed to meet me there called up and said "Plan Canceled". When I asked him the reason he replied, "The usual, watch the news" and before even I switched on the TV I knew what I was about to hear, the usual. "The Serial Bomb-blasts cut through the capital" was the exact headline. Also this not the first time terrorist and their craven acts have hampered my plans, this has happened before.

I used the word usual above and I know its a strong statement. I used it not because their is a bomb-blast every now and then in Delhi like what is happening in Afghanistan, Iraq or perhaps Pakistan. These serial blasts have occurred after an interval of more than 2 years. I used the word "usual" not for the reason that we face this every now and then but because we Delhities live in a constant fear of expecting this every now and then.

Also, I know that I am not the only who experiences these feelings. But all this some how irritates me and fill me with anger when I see my government incompetence to secure its citizens life. I am not a irascible person but for some reason I can't explain why the pictures of my blood stained fellow citizen shake me to the very core, filling my heart with vengeance.

I know India has not a good humanitarian record, but the people who die in these cowardly acts are innocents not the one who cause any oppressions. If these act of man slaughter instigates felling of rage in a recluse person like me, I can only imagine what kind of fervor it engenders in the usual Indian.

I fear the day when this anger simmering inside every patriotic Indian vent out. God knows what will happen that day? Good or bad only time will tell.

My Buddy Bloggers

2008-09-12T21:11:00.005+05:30

Bloggers are a rare breed where I live. I love blogging, even though my intensity of post flow may seem to have dry up this month, since my other commitments are keeping me busy. But, I still ask a lot of people to become a blogger, whenever and wherever I can. I do them both verbally as well as through blog post like You Have the Platform, Now Speak Up !!!

Blog is consequential tool when you have to make a statement and inconsequential when it comes to financial requirements. It is one of the best tool internet has to offer and I want everyone, specially the tech/net savvy person close to me to make the most of them.

So here I humbly present some of the blogs I motivated into creation. I want to wish all of them a successful stint of existence and following. Another reason to mention them here is that the hyperlink below would probably give them a search engine crawl and also hopefully boost their page ranks and value.

The list is as follow -

Akshiv Pathania -> Brother
Himanshu Garg -> College Junior
Gurveen Taneja -> College Junior
Gaurav Arora -> College Junior
Ankur Garg -> College Classmate
Manish Jain -> College Classmate
Hridesh Kumar -> Fellow College Student

I hope they don't end up as unattended one-two post blogs in the future. Atleast I goad them enough to make a start, that must count for something.

Also if even distantly I helped you in starting your blog, send me a link to my mail so I can review it and give myself a pat on the back.

Also if you are regular visitor to my blog and like reading it. I recommend you start a blog yourself and send me the link. I will do whatever I can from my side to give you a push.

Karna Lake Trip (2008)

2008-09-09T22:27:00.002+05:30

Karna Lake on 9th September 2008 with friends Jitesh, Karan, Vandana and Priyanka.

Here is the direct link to album.

Boost Traffic to Your Blog by Answering Common Questions

2008-09-07T11:33:00.004+05:30

I have been blogging for quite sometime now. I humbly think now that I can be counted in the category of bloggers with some experience. From my experience I can definitely say the worst demotivating factor for a blogger is a pittance web traffic. Its very painful to observe that after putting so much effort in blogging, puking your heart out, there is hardly any one to read it.

If you are a good and persistent blogger, you are one of the elite few. You definitely deserve better.

If you are not a movie star or politician, then probably you can't bet on traffic from direct sources. Direct sources refer to people who get to your site by typing direct URL in the browser. It also definitely does not mean that you can't get ample traffic to your blog if you don't have a adequate offline following. It simply means you need to rely on a different traffic source. The source I am referring here is Search Engines.

Millions of people use search engines to find answers to there every day-today questions, and the number is ominously rising at rapid rate. If your blog can cater the requirement to these questions then you will be able to tap to into huge stream of web traffic. The secret lies in giving the best answers.

Writing a best answer is not at all difficult. Best answer is the solution you yourself found most optimal in solving the question when you faced the problem yourself. If you struggled to find a solution yourself on the web, chances are most of the other Netizens are struggling too. Even, if you find the answer on internet lurking in some deep corner of the web far from the reach of search engines. Then probably you should rewrite it in a more elaborate and lucid manner. Since the search engines love blogs and easily digest its content. Your post will surface to the top with utmost ease. In the process it will give you that much deserved web traffic.

Let me end this post with an example. Though on this blog I write a lot of crap on lots of crappy topics. My top post with maximum traffic is a simple how to programming tutorial - How to Create a HTML Scroll Box? . Not surprisingly, all traffic to this post is from search engines. I did not put a lot of effort in writing this post and I never expected it to do so good. Still, I have no complaints. I don't believe in questioning my blessings.

Geek 2.0 vs Geek 1.0

2008-09-07T11:19:00.004+05:30

I bet you will love this poster comparing the young Bill Gates geeks to Old Bill Gates Geek. This one is created by David Armano.

I am looking for a full size poster of this graphic to put it up in my room. Its so thought provoking and will definitely go with my ultra-geek look of my computer laded room.

Mentor's Last Word

2008-08-29T21:23:00.004+05:30

This one of the most popular piece of literature in a world not visible to the many. It clearly defines what being a hacker means and what the world of hacking is all about. Probably nobody can put in better words then it already is

Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers.  "Teenager

Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank

Tampering"... Damn kids.  They're all alike. But did you, in your three-

piece psychology and 1950's technobrain, ever take a look behind the

eyes of the hacker?  Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces

shaped him, what may have molded him? I am a hacker, enter my world...

Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of the

other kids, this crap they teach us bores me...  Damn underachiever.

They're all alike. I'm in junior high or high school.  I've listened to

teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction.

I understand it.  "No, Ms. Smith, I didn't show my work.  I did it in

my head..." Damn kid.  Probably copied it.  They're all alike.

I made a discovery today.  I found a computer.  Wait a second, this is

cool.  It does what I want it to.  If it makes a mistake, it's because I

screwed it up.  Not because it doesn't like me...  Or feels threatened by

me.. Or thinks I'm a smart ass.. Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be

here... Damn kid.  All he does is play games.  They're all alike. And then

it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through the phone line

like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is sent out,

a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is found.

"This is it... this is where I belong..." I know everyone here... even

if I've never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them

again... I know you all... Damn kid.  Tying up the phone line again.

They're all alike... You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been

spoon-fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak... the bits of

meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless.

We've been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic.  The few

that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few are

like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the

beauty of the baud.  We make use of a service already existing without

paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering

gluttons, and you call us criminals.  We explore... and you call us

criminals.  We seek after knowledge... and you call us criminals.  We

exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias...

and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you

murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our

own good, yet we're the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal.  My crime is that of curiosity.  My crime is

that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.

My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never

forgive me for. I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto.  You may stop

this individual,but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike

These words mean a lot to me, and they have meaning far more deep than what is apparent to most.

Hacker is a very wrongly misused term. Hackers are not bad, crackers are. Hackers don't harm any body, crackers do. We plug the holes in a sinking ship, they make it bigger. Good and Evil exist every where in universe. I believe myself to be the good one. We have the IQ and Skills match equally to any bad cracker out there and we are the best chance you have against them. We are the one fighting to keep the balance.

What makes us different is that we have a character, which tell us right from wrong.

My Dark Side ... Latent Hacker

2008-08-29T18:11:00.014+05:30

I have this post written weeks back. It's lying in my draft section for a very long time. I have still not gear enough courage to publish this, though I keep editing this time and again. I hope I can find enough courage to publish it this time.

Let me make things clear first. So why I am writing out one of the deepest thoughts and secrets of my heart in public?

Firstly, because I believe I have still not done any thing bad enough with my skills which can be traced back to me, yet. I have a full control over myself and I will never use my skills to harm anybody until the utter need arises. The latter part seems to be scary right? But it is purely circumstantial. For example, see the recent clash between Georgia and Russia. Nobody could have cared less than me about the politics and motives which lead to it. What seemed to be interesting to me in all that was the cyber war part. How Russia crushed the Georgian cyber network. What if that had happened to my country by a foreign force. What good is my computer skills if I don't make my contribution in preventing the damage or more so reflecting it back. I hope the situation description is lucid enough to explain my point.

Secondly, I want this blog to reflect the complete me. If I only filled this blog with the crap, only what my bright side of mind do and think like I have did till now, then all this will just be a lie. I am not afraid to tell anybody except the one close to me, that I also have a dark side in me. Every one has it, denying it will not change the fact. Still most of the people in the world do the same. I openly except mine and I am in fact very proud of it. Tell me if you didn't ever felt the urge to be a assassin after watching a James Bond movie. Have you ever wonder why people love computer games? The reason is that it evoke and feed their sense of covertness and excitement, which is nothing but the desires of the dark side. It allows them to be live like someone, who they want to be but can't be. If you still deny it, probably you don't deserve to have one.

Thirdly, I have a freedom of speech and right of expression given to me by my constitution and I want to let go any fear holding me back from using it.

Lastly and most importantly, most of the people think that I am a smart good kid. Its true in a sense, but its only a partial truth. A partial truth is far more harmful than a lie. It breeds wrong expectation, which when unaccomplished leads to suffering and pain. It will be naive for people to expect that I don't have skeletons in my cupboard and be surprised/shocked when they unexpectedly show up. I don't deny that I have secrets, but you are very mistaken if you believe you can elicit them out of me easily. Some of them will be revealed at due time, while some will go with me too the grave (or ashes).

I am writing this post to admit that I have a very complicated esoteric relation with the hacker community and sheer urge to be part of it. One of the facet of my dark side(Yup! I have more than one).I love that can't stop me attitude, number crunching fancy displays, cigarette smoke filled atmosphere, always spirited IRC chat rooms. and most of all the capricious intellect. On the other hand, I also despise those nasty snob looks and that obnoxious malicious intent which gets in your face sometime. There are only very few people in the globe capable of rewriting this world's history, and many of them proudly belong to this community, explicitly or implicitly. As a result I have a touch and go kind of a relationship with most them, though some I proudly call friends. But I must admit, when it comes to getting things done in face of obstacles, the right way or the wrong way, they are better than the best.

I know probably after writing this, I will get some mails asking how to become a hacker. I know because I have written many of them myself, but most of them in vain. So if you want to become a hacker, here are the few of many essentials. There is probably no one book in this world which can help you and all those on the bookshelves are very restricting. Real fountain of knowledge is not on the surface but underground. If you want to learn it the right way, better lookout and find yourself a right mentor. You will also need a skeptical attitude, that uncontrolled desire to smash things open just to see how they works. Finally the most important thing is you need to be a programmer. I am still to meet a under average hacker who is not a above average coder. If you don't know how to write a code and you want to be a hacker. You are just wasting your time.

In the end I want to unambiguously state that dark side does not means the evil side. Good and Evil was present, is present and always will be present in this cosmos and every thing in it (including you and me). Both of them are necessary in this universe to sustain the balance. Importantly they are separated by a thin line, a very thin line. You will not even know when it will get blurred and the roles get exchange. It's not your bright side or your dark side which is good or bad. It is the objectives you use them to attain under the circumstances which dictates them are the one which decides.

Also there is a hell of a difference between Hacker and Cracker. Just Google it. Then decide where you belong.

And I know, I will have to do a lot of explaining if my Dad read this, which he probably will.