Wi-Fi over LED

Wi-Fi over LED, isn't the word itself so interesting and gripping? It sure seems to be a reality, because LVX System has launched visible light communiation in the US municipal office at St. Cloud, Minnesota. On May 17th, a team of Chinese Scientists had demonstrated that they can transmit 2Mbps Internet over LED light. And now, finally LVX Systems have launched this service officially, which seems to be a landmark in the discoveries made by Human Kind. What is good is that the speed they are offering is close to 3 Mbps.
Soon we will all be working over the Internet in our Wi-Fi enabled Laptops whenever the LED Lighting in our bedrooms are on and they the connection gets disconnected as soon as the lights are switched off. Ideally the LED lights would be placed on the roof above our head for better lighting and reflection free environment. Refer the below diagram which was used by the Chinese Scientists for the demonstration purposes.

If you are interested to study about the Chinese scientists demonstration, then please read the article - Chinese scientists demonstrate 2Mbps internet connection over LED
If you want to read the news regarding the LVX System's rollout of Wi-Fi via LED, then please read the article - LVX System launches visible light communication in the US, finally
Happy reading and happy future!

Say no to Windows IE 8 Oracle Apps developers/consultants

Update: Oracle EBS 11i and R12 are now certified with IE8 and Firefox 3.5. Moreover EBS is certified to work on Windows 7 OS. Ask your DBA to follow the this blog entry for more.

Beware Oracle Apps Consultant/Developers, Windows Internet Explorer 8 is not yet compatible with Oracle E-Business Suite. If you are an Vista user, there are high chances that IE 8 will get installed automatically, so as the saying goes, "Prevention is better than cure".

So you asking can we prevent IE8 from getting installed? Yes, it is absolutely possible. Just visit this site and install the IE8 installation blocker. This would prevent your machine (automatic updates) from automatically installing Windows Internet Explorer 8.

Enjoy!

Snappy Words

All search lovers as well as dictionary lovers, you got an awesome site where in you will be able to watch meanings for words in a graphical way. This is a fun way to learn things.

You can visit the website or directly search from your firefox search bar:

To add this search engine to your search bar list in firefox, do this: click on the drop down arrow near the search engine name> manage search engines> get more search engines (link), which will take you to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/13971. 

PS: Else you can directly add this add-on from the above link :)

I tried searching the meaning for snappy in this, and look at the cool results :)

You can drag this thing, scroll over it, zoom in, zoom out and is really a cool way to explore the meaning of words. Enjoy browsing :)

Forgetting Culture is a Lack of Knowledge

We Indians have that tag really, especially if you are a Hindu. Our Culture is the oldest of all and has found strong evidences from all the over the world. People forget and misunderstand Hinduism rather than a way of life. Our cultural foundations and findings have given way to what is currently present in the world - Science, Technology, Knowledge. Everything were written in detail in Vedas.

The Vedas contain hymns, incantations, and rituals from ancient India. Along with the Book of the Dead, the Enuma Elish, the I Ching, and the Avesta, they are among the most ancient religious texts still in existence. Besides their spiritual value, they also give a unique view of everyday life in India four thousand years ago. The Vedas are also the most ancient extensive texts in an Indo-European language, and as such are invaluable in the study of comparative linguistics.

They also had a vast influence on Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Traditionally the text of the Vedas was coeval with the universe. Scholars have determined that the Rig Veda, the oldest of the four Vedas, was composed about 1500 B.C., and codified about 600 B.C. It is unknown when it was finally committed to writing, but this probably was at some point after 300 B.C.

For those of who doesn't know about Vedas, there are 4 Vedas in Hinduism, they are:

• Rig Veda -which contains hymns that treat Nature as GODS,
• Sama Veda -hymns which needs to be practised and chanted by priests,
• Yajur Veda - more powerful hymns chanted by priests and
• Atharva Veda - also contains material from the Rig Veda, but of interest are the numerous incantations and metaphysical texts, which this anthology (part of the Sacred Books of the East series) collects and categorizes.

All the scientific information on Atoms, Nucleus, etc were written already in the Vedas and were the source of information for millions of scientists who made theories and findings out of it including the great Einstein. Hinduism is the only form of practise which has so many powerful texts and benefits others. They teach us how to live, what is right and what is wrong practise.

It is absolutely great to imagine so much information that our so called 'religion' gives, we must respect and accept things and move on. Of course caste system came later, which was created by Lord Krishna according to Puranas. That is the only set back that our religion has as far as I know. Otherwise we need to teach and make people understand the power of our texts and follow a righteous path. You can find many FAQs in this website which will quench your religious thirst and many questions which you had in your mind. Enjoy browsing: http://www.webonautics.com/mythology/factsinhindu.html

Wait one more thing, did you know that the Thoppukaranam which we practise in front of Lord Vinayaga is a sort of Yoga which has many benefits. Don't believe me? Well Americans do. That's the situation now, Indians forget the culture which Americans love to adopt. And we? We are now following western culture by exposing everything for money and fun. Ok lets don't get diverted, the thing I wanted to say is there are many practices which we follow without knowing its importance or reason. One such is Thoppukaram performed in front of Lord Vinayaga. What benefits it has? Check this video:




The Americans will soon patent this yoga form named 'Super Brain Yoga' which is our own Thoppukaranam. There are many things like this in India which we perform without knowing the reason. All I can say is we are being diverted by some Money force, religious fanatics all around the globe and improper Spiritual Guide/Spiritual Leader.

Good website on Hinduism

I found a very good website for clarifying some of the doubts that lure our minds regarding Hinduism. Hinduism is more a way of life than a religion. There are millions of God's to choose from but the essence of worship remains the same. Many people will have many questions about various forms of God's and an awesome and useful website tries to answer the questions that are frequently asked.

Visit Hinduism Today for more details.

Don't forget to visit the Himalayan Academy link which tries to explain the Basics of Hinduism. Happy reading :-)

Also if you want some online guide like the Vedas, Epics on Hinduism, you can visit here

Jai Hind ;-)!

Chithirai thirunal- Tamil New Year's Day

Every year in the month of Chitterai (the first month of the Tamil solar calendar), in the temple city of Madurai, the Chitterai Thiruvizha is celebrated in the Meenakshi Temple. A huge exhibition is also held, called Chitterai Porutkaatchi. In some parts of Southern Tamil Nadu, it is also called Chitterai Vishu. The day is marked with a feast in Tamil homes and entrances to the houses are decorated elaborately with kolams. In most parts of India, Middle-east and Africa, one can see neem trees blooming with its flowers and the first batch of mangoes hanging prominently. This day is celebrated by some communities with neem flowers and raw mangoes to symbolize growth and prosperity.

On the day of Tamil New Year, a big Car Festival is held at Tiruvadamarudur near Kumbakonam. Festivals are also held at Tiruchirapalli, Kanchipuram and many other places.

Sri Lankan Tamils observe the traditional new year in April with the first financial transaction known as the 'Kai-vishesham' where elders gift money to the unmarried young, particularly children as a token of good luck. The event is also observed with the 'arpudu' or the first ploughing of the ground to prepare for the new agricultural cycle. The 'punya-kaalam' or auspicious time when the sun reportedly shifts from Meena raasi to Mesha raasi is considered ideal to commence new activities on a favorable note. Sri Lankan Tamils begin the year with a herbal bath with 'maruthu-neer' with ingredients for good health. The game of 'por-thenkai' or coconut wars between youth is played in villages through the Tamil north of the island while cart races are also held. The Puthandu season in April is a time for family visits.

The Bill

A Bill declaring the first day of the Tamil month 'Thai' as the Tamil Nadu Tamil New Year day was unanimously passed in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly. The Tamil Nadu Tamil New Year (Declaration Bill 2008) was introduced in the House by the Tamil Nadu DMK Government on January 29, 2008. According to the statement of objects and reasons of the Tamil Nadu Tamil New Year (Declaration) Act 2008, the Governor in his address to the House had announced that in view of the consensus amongst some Tamil scholars that the first day of the month of Thai is the first day of the Tamil year, the Government had decided to declare the first day of Thai as the Tamil Nadu Tamil New Year Day.

The Controversy

This legislative enactment of the DMK government was not without controversy. It abolished the Tamil calendar for purportedly secular reasons and reaffirmed the use of the Tiruvalluvar era created in the 20th century as the official calendar. The order abolishes the use of traditional Tamil Years in the 60 year cycle. It proposes that January 14 of every year be celebrated as Tamil New Year in addition to the famous harvest/farmer festival Pongal. But the said resolution has been met with resistance and has been challenged in court. The opposition AIADMK and MDMK in Tamil Nadu condemned the decision of the DMK Government in that state and urged their supporters to continue celebrating the traditional date in mid-April. Tamils in Sri Lanka, Canada and Singapore continue to observe the new year in mid-April.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

i'm Making a difference

"Join the i’m Initiative and Microsoft will make a donation to one of ten social causes each time you send a message with Windows Live Messenger or Windows Live Hotmail (our free webmail service)."

Yes I'm making a difference. Like the image to the top left shows.


Want to know how? Simple, if you are having an MSN/ Hotmail account you too can as do I. Ok lets get to the business, what is this? What difference it makes? Well, here it is.

It's a new initiative from Microsoft which is utilizing our instant messages or emails for a good cause, each mail or message that we send accrues some points to a good cause and Microsoft pays off for that cause. So what all causes it supports, here is the list:



The i’m Initiative from Microsoft® makes helping social causes easy. Every time you use Windows Live™ Messenger or Windows Live Hotmail®, our free webmail service, we'll share a portion of our advertising revenue with the cause you choose from among our partner social cause organizations. Exactly how much will we share with our partner causes? Well, that's up to you and the growing masses of i’m Initiative users. The more messages you send, the more we give.

Now the small things you do every day, like e-mailing and IMing, can make a big difference.



Please check the following website for more details:

i'm Making a Difference

There are video tutorials in that link also. However it has small setbacks, Email i'm feature is not available in India yet. List of countries supported can be browsed through this link: Hotmail I'm Link.

Hope we all can contribute to a cause now. I really like these kind of initiatives, no matter who does it. I really appreciate. Good one Microsoft! I love you!!

The February and March connection

Did you notice something common about February and March months? They have something in common except when it is a leap year (that is February month has 29 days or year is divisible by 4).

If you notice during non leap years (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006,2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 etc), the February month's date & day combination (for example 25-FEB-2009 is Wednesday) and March month's date & day combination (25-MAR-2009 is Wednesday) will be the same.

Strange and interesting? Spread this message to all :)....

And yeah remember this applies only if the year is a non-leap year.

Google Chrome swallows Mozilla Firefox

Google Chrome swallows Mozilla Firefox

Well that too atleast on my system.Google's Chrome had launched silently and is all set to conquer this Browser's space. As soon as I tested out my hands on Chrome at my office system, I came home and uninstalled FF3 and installed Chrome :).

Let me highlight you some great features of this browser (tabbed browser of course):

1. It uses a concept of multithreading. Which means each tab has its own pre-allocated memory space.

For example, I open two tabs namely one for google and another for msn as shown:

Now, if I see the system task manager, I can see two Chrome.exe processes:

2. More browsing space, little/no congestion! Webpages occupy the max space and other tabs, buttons/menu are not applicable. Tabs are typically placed on top for more browsing experince. This is a very important and key feature and makes us love this browser. No hassles is the call of the day!

3. The browser itself has its own tak manager and can display other browser's memory usage (if opened currently).

This task manager is very helpful to kill tabs that issue trouble without having to kill your browser as in IE or FF.

4. Smart box as in FF3 with additional feature for search "keyword" in Google or other search engines based on your default search engine set at the options.

5. One click Bookmarking as in FF3. Remember the Star?

6. Clean, simple interface that is self explanatory and even a small kid can learn the interface fast.

7. Most visited tabs list. This is surely a hit, a copy from Opera I guess :)

8. Finally a key feature: (Why myself have installed this and recommend you people too)

It loads and closes faster than any other app in this world. Very very fast!

I am expecting a few more features like restore, import bookmarks from files etc. I know its still in BETA stage and I am eagerly waiting for its full release!

I saw a presentation on Chrome and explaining the key features, I learned that crashes from the browser is no way possible and thats the technology behind it. And yeah the restore feature that I specified is off now!

How about some widgets/add-ons?

Let see what the full version has to offer ..

Update: I think I am in LOVE with Firefox3. I just uninstalled Google Chrome and got back FF3 in my office computer. Well, at home, due to resource constraints I am still using Lighter Google Chrome. Also, G Chrome crashed in my home PC. Do not know the reason yet, its not opening at all! I uninstalled the same from my home PC too. So please consider these before you install chrome. You can very well do away with IE7 or FF3. They are invincible at the moment!

Windows XP Support Extended until 2014

Microsoft has finally given in to public demand. The company has decided to offer technical support for Windows XP with updates and security patches for an extended period until April 2014. However, it will not go back on its decision to discontinue Windows XP sales after June 30.

This means that after June 30, Microsoft will stop distributing Windows XP as a stand-alone product, as well as stop licensing it to PC manufacturers like Dell, HP, Lenovo, and others. However, it doesn't mean that XP will disappear overnight. Consumers may still find copies of the software or computers pre-loaded with it for months, as stores and PC makers typically work through their inventories.

Also, as per an announcement made at Computex earlier this month, the software giant said that 'nettops' better defined as PCs with limited hardware or ultra-low cost PCs will be available with Windows XP until January 2009.

Additionally, under another program, Microsoft is allowing customers to downgrade Vista systems to XP through a loophole in the company's licensing terms. So those purchasing a copy of Vista will also be able to run XP at no additional cost.

Microsoft's move to extend the deadline for technical support is primarily influenced by large business customers, who haven't yet upgraded their systems to Windows Vista. The companies have been reluctant to switch to Vista due to the costs and heavy system requirements involved. So, large business customers might just skip Vista and continue with XP until the release of Windows 7, which is scheduled for release in 2010.


Info: Published as available in techtree website.

Read the legal info

Saving images through Firefox

Today I discovered how to save images that cannot be normally saved using right clicking and save as option. In fact that option would even list or the page would be secured to not to enable right click at all.

For example the blogger page here, does not allow you to save Publish icon, get icon etc :). Well I just cracked how to save it through FF without ever using any third party tools to capture screen and crop and craps hehe..


Just open the site which will not allow you to save any images in Firefox (I use FF2.0.0.14), then
click on Tools -> Page Info. Under this tool, click on Media tab. Browse through the images listed in there and select which ever you want, see through Media Preview and then click on Save As.. to save that image right to your desktop. Isn't that cool? You can preview as well as Save it :).

Here's a compliment for you:


Now enjoy snipping the pics off the webpage :).

Read the legal Info

Add-ons for IE7

I know most of us love Firefox3 rather than IE7. I agree and I am with you. I know a few people who disagree too :). I agree with you too :). Now you are think **WTF** hahaha! Relax, I have found an article on 5 great add-ons for IE7 that makes the browser larger than before!

Add-ons are the important extensions to a browser which makes us do things more than just browsing. Firefox ultimately had thousands of them, but IE7 has a few but strongly useful ones. This article here explains about the 5 great IE7 add-ons. I really loved them, they are very useful for most us and I myself am going to try it despite being a FF lover :).. Nothing is wrong in trying.. Catch you later bye!

P.S: Wait a minute, for all those who think from which browser I posted this blog entry- It's FF2.

Abdul Kalam lec at UFT

Kalpavriksha - Power to Create (Hindi with Voice Over)

Rama Rocks

I like this scene! And this bridge built in this scene by the great Monkey warrior and his comrades still exists for real!

Even NASA's images have proven it!

Good Manners and Golden Rule at Workplace

10 things you didnt knew about Wikipedia Images

An interesting article here on the Wikipedia images. Want to know how, who, when and where the images are added to Wikipedia? Infact, know more than this.

Click here to know about the 10 things that you didn't know about the Wikipedia Images.

Vista Shortcut Keys

Yet another useful article for Vista lovers.

Download

Office 2003 tips and tricks

I found out an interesting article on Office 2003 tips and tricks in a website. You can download them here

P.S.: Right click on the link and Save Target As..

Defragmentation: Windows Vs Linux

I stumbled across a great explanation of why hard drives on Linux computers rarely need defragmenting. It’s a common question from students and, as laid out in this post, makes for a great quick lesson on file systems and hard drive management for high school and college students just beginning their study of computing and computer science.

While the article itself basically hands you a lesson plan (one could even imagine in-class activities with students filling in squares on graph paper, rearranging their seats, or any number of other hands-on demonstrations of bits moving around a simulated hard drive), the essence is that FAT/NTFS require frequent defragmentation because they order files sequentially. Linux file systems, on the other hand, leave room between them on the drive, allowing them to expand, shrink, and move on the fly without being broken into chunks (or fragments) as frequently happens in Windows file systems.

It’s a cool read and very understandable for students from a variety of backgrounds. Enjoy!