Richie's Blog

Wave of Google....

2009-12-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

I got to know about this when I joined Twitter few weeks ago (that's the moment I realized my mistake of not joining it earlier). Watched the long video (Google itself says "watch our loooooong video") of Google Wave launch (1 hrs and 20 mins) and started diving to get Google wave. Applied then and there to get the invitation, and got the invitation yesterday.

So you want to know what it is. It is an online communication and collaboration tool that makes real time interactions seamless--- all in one place. Collaborate anything you want (text, images, videos, maps). Multiple participants can conversate. Anyone can join the conversation (wave) anytime if allowed. Anyone can reply anywhere anyone can rewind the wave (playback) to see what happened in the wave and when?

Coming to the review, I appreciate the idea google has come up with. It has launched a new fashion on the internet, making it more powerful. I can still see some browser problems there. The first thing I had to do in order to launch it: install Chrome frame. O O it should be working with IE normally, anyways, It still has got some problems. Flash plugins inserted in any Wave by the user take longer time, some time the interface is shrinked or loads half way (and you need to press F5). I am sending these reports to Doctor Wave also. Since it is an infant product so Google has assigned Doctor Wave to take care of it. I am sure he would be working harder.

Features are quite cool. I am yet to explore them and YES here is the video of Google Wave overview: (Don't worry it is just 8 mins long)

I am going to dive into the WAVE!!!! :)

Cheers,

Richie

Cloud Computing is HERE!!!

2009-07-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

The first question that arises into the mind after hearing this term is: "Is it cloud of computers??" The answer is: "Oh yes it is". In cloud computing, an user's applications and documents are shifted from desktop to the cloud, where thousands of computers and servers are linked together and accessible through the Internet or the "cloud". Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the "cloud" that supports them.
The concept generally incorporates combinations of the following:
* Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
* Platform as a service (PaaS)
* Software as a service (SaaS)
* Other recent technologies that rely on the Internet to satisfy the computing needs of users. Cloud computing services often provide common business applications online that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers.
The term cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on how the Internet is depicted in computer network diagrams and is an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it conceals.
Architecture:
Cloud architecture, the systems architecture of the software systems involved in the delivery of cloud computing, comprises hardware and software designed by a cloud architect who typically works for a cloud integrator. It typically involves multiple cloud components communicating with each other over application programming interfaces, usually web services
This closely resembles the Unix philosophy of having multiple programs doing one thing well and working together over universal interfaces. Complexity is controlled and the resulting systems are more manageable than their monolithic counterparts.
Cloud architecture extends to the client, where web browsers and/or software applications access cloud applications.
Cloud storage architecture is loosely coupled, where metadata operations are centralized enabling the data nodes to scale into the hundreds, each independently delivering data to applications or users.
Find out more @ the original resourcs of this blog (Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing
Comments on cloud computing by IBM:
"Cloud computing is an emerging approach to shared infrastructure in which large pools of systems are linked together to provide IT services." - Shashi B Mal- Director, Systems & Technology Group, IBM India/South Asia
Read IBM's article on it at:
http://www.ibm.com/news/in/en/2008/01/31/v675609i13009t25.html
Let's see the clouds :)
BTW new post coming soon.

Cheers,

Richie

Looking for details of a particular patent? Try Google Patents

2009-03-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

I donno whether u know it or not but it has been online 2.5 years. If you are looking for details of any patent which was submitted to United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Google Patents is a perfect to dig on. You can find the scanned copies of originally submitted copies on this website.
Google Patents is a search engine from Google that indexes patents and patent applications from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which are taken from the original USPTO database (which is in the public domain). All 7 million patents have been put in the database. Optical character recognition (OCR) has been performed on the pages to make them searchable. This searchability includes all US patents.
History and background:
The service was launched on December 14, 2006. Google says it uses "the same technology as that underlying Google Books" allowing scrolling through pages, and zooming in on areas. The images are saveable as PNG files but can be converted with a graphics program to TIFF files which can be OCRed.
Review and criticisms:
The indexing is not perfect. Reportedly, as of 14 December, not all IBM patents were locatable, as searching for IBM patents retrieved only 1,197 results on Google Patents, but that IBM received nearly 3,000 patents in 2005 alone.Unlike Google Patents, Espacenet includes US patent applications as well as granted patents. In terms of response time however, the performance of Google Patents is considered to be very good.

Read story about launch on Forbes here

Wanna read critical overview of this patent search tool, click here

Finally I was able to post it for a long time. It was in my drafts from march. ooof!!!

Thanks,

Richie

'Slumdog' team thrilled with Golden Globe win

2009-01-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

With Indian music maestro A R Rahman scripting history by winning the first Golden Globe award with 'Slumdog Millionaire' which also bagged three other prizes today, film's actor Irrfan Khan is keeping his fingers crossed for Oscars next month. The actor, who stars as an inspector in the Mumbai-based rags-to-riches saga hopes that the film will be able to script history at Oscars as well.

"I am happy for Rahman and for the film. I am sure it is going to get some Oscar nomination as well, so we might make history," Irrfan told PTI. Rahman, nicknamed 'Mozart of Madras' by Time magazine, became the first Indian to win the Golden Globe award for Best Original Music Score with 'Jai Ho'.

The film also bagged three more prestigious awards for the Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Director award for Danny Boyle and Best Screen Play award for Simon Beaufoy. It beat the heavyweights like Brad Pitt's 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,' Batman film 'Dark Knight," 'Frost/Nixon,' and political drama 'Milk' to win in the Best Picture category.

By:

PTI

Yahoo! Messenger for Mac is here!!!!!!1

2007-09-11T03:36:00.000-07:00

Mac Messenger: Get it hot from the oven. All Mac users, welcome to the new Yahoo! Messenger for Mac 3.0 Beta 2 (for Mac OSX 10.4 or later). Now with tabbed IM windows (chat with two or more friends from a single window, just tab over or drag it out to make it its own window), chat rooms, message archiving, improved webcam and file transfer, and the best part – more emoticons to send, share, IM! After you’ve downloaded it, read up on the other new features on its blog at:

http://blog.messenger.yahoo.com/blog/2007/09/06/new-mac-version-beta-2/

Download it from following link:

http://messenger.yahoo.com/mac.php

Keep visiting my blog ...

Regards,

Richie

Receiving spams from your website email forms try CAPTCHA!!!!

2007-04-27T04:40:00.001-07:00

This script generates images (known as "Captcha's") which contain security codes used for protecting a form from spam bots. By encoding a 'password' inside an image and asking the user to re-enter what they see you can verify the user is a human and not automated software submitting your form. See how it works:

http://www.white-hat-web-design.co.uk/articles/php-captcha.php

Google phone is coming......

2007-04-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

Is Google going to introduce its Google phone? According to mobile industry insiders and analysts, Google is developing its own mobile phone which will tentatively be available for sale in 2008.Google might be working with HTC and mobile giant Orange to materialize this low cost and internet-connected mobile phone. Both Orange and Google have kept perfectly silent on this matter.

Nevertheless, Google spokesman revealed that mobile is an important area for Google and Google will continue to focus on creating applications as well as establishing and growing partnerships with these industry leaders to develop innovative services for its users worldwide.

If this rumour is true, it will benefit a lot of users. News leaked out from Google disclosed that this new Google phone is able to receive emails, handle voice-over-internet calls (VOIP), and other internet based functions. This phone will help users to synchronize their emails easier, make cheaper calls and even enjoy short movie clips from YouTube! All these can be done without a PC.

The launching of Google phone will definitely affect other mobile phones' market share. This news is spreading fast and it seems to be pretty accurate. Having said that, feverish speculations about Google products have been proven wrong before. Previously Google was widely reported to be building its own line of personal computers. However, what was actually produced was a set of free software programs designed to make any existing Windows PC easier to use.

Yahoo! mail goes to infinity and beyond

2007-03-29T06:05:00.000-07:00

For its 10th anniversary, Yahoo Mail is upping the ante to maintain its position as the leading free e-mail service in the world. It's bet: infinity.

"We will begin offering everyone unlimited e-mail storage starting in May 2007," said John Kremer, VP of Yahoo Mail, in a blog post on Tuesday.
When it launched in 1997, Yahoo Mail offered users 4 Mbytes of storage. Then came the information explosion. In 2004, storage capacity was raised to 100 Mbytes. A year later, it was 1 Gbyte.

Google's Gmail currently offers 2.8 Gbytes of storage to its users, an amount that has been creeping upward since the service debuted with 1 Gbyte. Google watchers speculate that some sort of competitive answer to Yahoo's announcement may come on April 1st, the third anniversary of Gmail.

Windows Live Mail offers 2 Gbytes of storage. MSN Hotmail offers 1 Gbyte for its free plan.

Yahoo Mail has long been the most popular free e-mail service worldwide. In February, it received some 243.4 million visitors, according to comScore Media Metrix. Microsoft's MSN Hotmail and Windows Live came in a close second, with 233.3 million visitors the same month. Google's Gmail remains a distant third, having served 62.4 million visitors last month.

However, of the three leading free e-mail services, Yahoo Mail has been growing the slowest. Between February 2006 and February 2007, worldwide traffic at Yahoo Mail grew 9%. Hotmail/Windows Live Mail grew 13% and Gmail grew 68% during the same period, according to comScore.

Unlimited storage, if unanswered by Microsoft and Google, may help Yahoo maintain its lead in the market.
"We hope we're setting a precedent for the future," said Kremer. "Someday, can you imagine a hard drive that you can never fill? Never having to empty your photo card on your camera to get space back? Enough storage to fit the world's music, and then some, on your iPod? Sounds like a future without limits."

See details at:

http://yodel.yahoo.com/2007/03/27/yahoo-mail-goes-to-infinity-and-beyond/

One more thing:

When I discovered this thing, I found a new cool link:

http://yodel.yahoo.com

A cool blog hosted on Yahoo! for Yahoo! by Yahoo! (Using WordPress)

Now add more power to your blogging by yodelling on Yahooooooooo!!!.

Regards,

Richie [the new Yodeller ;) ]

New QuickTime exploits MySpace, steals passwords!!!

2007-03-20T07:23:00.001-07:00

A Trojan horse exploiting a flaw in Apple Inc.'s QuickTime that was patched two weeks ago is infecting MySpace.com users' computers, collecting confidential information, including passwords, several security companies said today.

The attack is reminiscent of one late last year that plagued MySpace users and forced the popular social networking site to shut down hundreds of profiles.

Like that December exploit, today's leverages the QuickTime "HREF" function, which allows movies to contain URLs or JavaScript that load Web pages into a browser. Rather than issue a fix to all QuickTime users then, however, Apple took the unusual step of letting MySpace itself link to the blocking code. In other words, only MySpace users were protected.

"This function is not strictly a bug or a vulnerability, but it is something that can be misused," said Ivan MacIntlel, research director at Trend Micro Inc.

An Apple spokesman today said that the company patched QuickTime against the flaw in its March 5 security update. New versions for both Mac OS X and Windows were released that day.

But apparently not every QuickTime user has updated to the patched Version 7.1.5; the most recent exploit again uses HREF to embed malicious JavaScript in a QuickTime movie posted on a MySpace page. When a user clicks to play the movie, the JavaScript Trojan horse -- which is hosted on an external site -- grabs personal information of the MySpace user.

Helsinki-based security vendor F-Secure Corp. ticked off the pieces the Trojan horse steals: MySpace username, FriendID, MySpace Display Name and other user passwords. The data is uploaded to a server at the domain Profileawareness.com, which is a members-only forum that "provides working methods of tracking exactly who visited your MySpace profile."

Although MacIntlel could not confirm that the QuickTime update of March 5 would stymie the new attack -- his research teams are still investigating -- he said that it is often true that people don't upgrade vulnerable software. "It's common that people aren't updating right away," he said.

Even, MySpace representatives did not return a call for comment.

What's next by Microsoft?

2007-03-19T06:10:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is going to launch its Live online service, which has attracted 6 million Xbox 360 console gamers, will be open in May to PC gamers who use its new Windows Vista operating system.

The move comes nearly a year after Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said the company's vision was for "anywhere" gaming that would link video game consoles, cell phones and computers, and is a key step toward reaching that goal.

The PC version of Live will debut on May 8 with the launch of the Windows Vista version of "Halo 2," Microsoft's popular alien shooter game.

In June, Microsoft Game Studios will release "Shadowrun," the first game where Live will support competition between players on the Xbox 360 and PCs.

Live members will need just one account, whether they play on the Xbox 360, the PC, or both machines.

Microsoft offers two Live subscription levels. Silver membership is free and the Gold level, which includes cross-platform play and other multiplayer features, costs about $50 per year.

Microsoft's online gaming service has been a key selling point for its Xbox 360 video game console, which was released in November 2005 and competes with Sony Corp.'s (SNE) PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii for top billing in the $30 billion global video game market.

Feeling Bored ?? Check out this cool site

2007-03-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

After a long time I found some spare time to spend on internet but I was really feeling bored, so I started searching sites which can make you feel good and finally I found I-am-bored.com. At first look I was not impressed with its brightened appearance but soon I realized my mistake. This site is full of contents. It redirects visitors to top rated interesting stuff sites when you feel bored. I tell you what this site contains:

Games, Funny, Entertainment, Quizes , Weird , Tech, Lifestyle, Arts and Literature, News and Politics, Science and Sports

With viewing filters of:

Latest, Popular, Most bookmarked, Most emailed, Top rated, My favorites, and Random.

So you wanna have fun? Just click on this link:

http://www.i-am-bored.com/

Automate everything with AutoHotkey.

2007-03-05T03:29:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Since this is my first post, I donno how to post an attractive blog but I am trying to make it so. If you have any suggestions, feel free to post tips-n-tricks. Now let's come to the business.

What is an AutoHotkey?

Though it is somewhat related to scripting language but, if handled with care its pretty rocking.

AutoHotkey is a free open-source keyboard, joystick and mouse remapper utility for Windows. With it, you can:

1. Automate almost anything by sending keystrokes and mouse clicks. You can write a mouse or keyboard macro by hand or use the macro recorder.

2. Create hotkeys for keyboard, joystick, and mouse. Virtually any key, button, or combination can become a hotkey.

3. Expand abbreviations as you type them. For example, typing "btw" can automatically produce "by the way".

4. Create custom data-entry forms, user interfaces, and menu bars.

5. Remap keys and buttons on your keyboard, joystick, and mouse.

6. Respond to signals from hand-held remote controls via the WinLIRC client script.

7. Run existing AutoIt v2 scripts and enhance them with new capabilities.

8. Convert any script into an EXE file that can be run on computers that don't have AutoHotkey installed.

AutoHotkey unleashes the full potential of your keyboard, joystick, and mouse. For example, in addition to the typical Control, Alt, and Shift modifiers, you can use the Windows key and the Capslock key as modifiers. In fact, you can make any key or mouse button act as a modifier. For these and other capabilities, see:

http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/HotkeyFeatures.htm

To download AutoHotkey:

http://www.autohotkey.com/download/

Learn how to create AutoHotkey scripts:

http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/Tutorial.htm

Regards,

Rishi