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2011-02-24T17:17:00.001+05:30

these are the details

Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud - Getting Started

2009-11-16T09:59:00.000+05:30

Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud - Getting Started

Find a package that provides a program

2009-11-16T09:56:00.001+05:30

Find a package that provides a program: "First, we install it and update its database:

sudo aptitude install apt-file
sudo apt-file update

Now, let’s find what package provides command mimencode (since I’m looking for a program, I’ll prepend the search with “bin” since that’s where executables go):

apt-file search bin/mimencode
metamail: usr/bin/mimencode"

enabling and disabling a site in Apache under ubuntu

2009-11-09T11:24:00.002+05:30

# enabling
sudo a2ensite mynewsite
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

# disabling
sudo a2dissite mynewsite
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

Live in Joy

2009-10-30T11:07:00.001+05:30

From _why's way of living

Live in Joy, In love,
Even among those who hate.

Live in joy, In health,
Even among the afflicted.

Live in joy, In peace,
Even among the troubled.

Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment,
Know the sweet joy of living in the way.

list of processes using network

2009-10-30T10:31:00.003+05:30

processes using the internet
how to find out which process is listening upon a port

sudo lsof -i -n

other useful tools:
- trojanscan
- ethereal

2009-10-28T17:54:00.001+05:30

'Basra' will be out of the box: Abhay Deol

When asked what motivated him to don the producer's hat, Abhay revealed: "I had bad experiences in the past, with 'Manorama...' being the classic example where the director did his job - he made it well, actors gave their level best but when it was the producer's turn to distribute and market the film, it was nowhere to be seen."

Unable to load Mozilla for hosted mode - Google Web Toolkit | Google Groups

2009-10-27T19:20:00.001+05:30

Unable to load Mozilla for hosted mode - Google Web Toolkit | Google Groups:

sudo apt-get install libstdc++5

Java - Community Ubuntu Documentation

2009-10-27T18:44:00.001+05:30

Running Java under Ubuntu is not so straightforward if you try on your own!

The correct procedure is at -
Java - Community Ubuntu Documentation

Django application does not see db changes made by external sources - Django users | Google Groups

2009-10-27T18:27:00.002+05:30

I came across an interesting problem today during coding. The update made by one process were not visible in another process. This is an application developed using Django and MySQL.

Turned out that it was the issue of default transaction isolation levels used by InnoDB tables in MySQL. After googling, came across the foll. link:

Django application does not see db changes made by external sources - Django users | Google Groups

The default level for InnoDB is *repeatable read*. In this isolation mode, each transaction gets to work in an isolated version of the table where each row remains as it was when the transaction started. Reading a row is guaranteed to be repeatable.
If you want script1.py (using an InnoDB table) to see committed updates from other transactions you can change the transaction isolation level like so:
from django.db import connection
connection.cursor().execute('set transaction isolation level read committed')

Paul Buchheit: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

2009-10-25T09:28:00.003+05:30

A beautiful post (essay?) by Paul Buchheit ..

Paul Buchheit: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. "Hacking"

Every system has two sets of rules: The rules as they are intended or commonly perceived, and the actual rules ("reality"). In most complex systems, the gap between these two sets of rules is huge.

Sometimes we catch a glimpse of the truth, and discover the actual rules of a system. Once the actual rules are known, it may be possible to perform "miracles" -- things which violate the perceived rules.

...

In fact, the entire process of building a business and having other people and computers do the work for you is a big hack. Nobody ever created a billion dollars through direct physical labor -- it requires some major shortcuts to create that much wealth, and by definition those shortcuts were mostly invisible to others (though many will dispute it after the fact). Startup investing takes this hack to the next level by having other people do the work of building the business, though finding the right people and businesses is not easy.

...

To discover great hacks, we must always be searching for the true nature of our reality, while acknowledging that we do not currently possess the truth, and never will. Hacking is much bigger and more important than clever bits of code in a computer -- it's how we create the future.

gpg decrypt several files

2009-10-16T02:52:00.001+05:30

$ gpg --allow-multiple-messages --decrypt-files *

via: commandlinefu

crash early, crash often

2009-10-14T18:54:00.002+05:30

teenage mutant ninja hero coders » Offensive programming: crash early, crash often.:

The problem is: there is very little code which can’t fail and you never are done checking for errors.

how to get public IP from command line

2009-10-14T18:41:00.001+05:30

curl http://www.icanhazip.com

via Most Useful Command Ever

To that end, someone kind, caring and considerate registered a domain, and set up a server that does nothing but serve up the IP of it’s visitors.

scopial

2009-10-08T19:22:00.001+05:30

Scopial

The venture called Scopial (Scope for Discovery), is an online store for T-shirts created by designers from across the world.
"It is a venture powered by the users for the users," says 24-year-old Rahul Yadav. Users from anywhere in the world can submit designs for T-shirts on the web site (www.scopial.com). The online community of over 3,000 users vote on these designs on a scale of 1 to 5. The best design is selected every fortnight and the designer is rewarded Rs 20,000.

PGP, GPG How To

2009-09-17T17:53:00.001+05:30

I needed to generate a PGP key today so that some other folks could share confidential information with me. Though I know the concepts behind PGP, I have never had to generate PGP keys before. Here is how I did it using GPG (Gnu Privacy Guard).

It is interesting that GNU folks come up with interesting monikers like this .. PGP and GPG!!

A. Generate PGP key


ajain@ubuntu:~$ gpg --gen-key
gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.6; Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions. See the file COPYING for details.

Please select what kind of key you want:
 (1) DSA and Elgamal (default)
 (2) DSA (sign only)
 (5) RSA (sign only)
Your selection? 1
DSA keypair will have 1024 bits.
ELG-E keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long.
What keysize do you want? (2048)
Requested keysize is 2048 bits
Please specify how long the key should be valid.
       0 = key does not expire
      = key expires in n days
    w = key expires in n weeks
    m = key expires in n months
    y = key expires in n years
Key is valid for? (0)
Key does not expire at all
Is this correct? (y/N) y

You need a user ID to identify your key; the software constructs the user ID
from the Real Name, Comment and Email Address in this form:
  "Heinrich Heine (Der Dichter) "

Real name: Amitabh Jain
Email address: amitabhj@gmail.com
Comment: Amitabh's PGP key
You selected this USER-ID:
  "Amitabh Jain (Amitabh's PGP key) "

Change (N)ame, (C)omment, (E)mail or (O)kay/(Q)uit? O
You need a Passphrase to protect your secret key.

gpg: gpg-agent is not available in this session
We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform
some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the
disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number
generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.
++++++++++.++++++++++.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++..+++++++++++++++.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++.++++++++++++++++++++..++++++++++...+++++>++++++++++......................................<.+++++.............>+++++........................<+++++..........................>+++++.............<+++++>.+++++.......+++++

Not enough random bytes available.  Please do some other work to give
the OS a chance to collect more entropy! (Need 265 more bytes)
some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the
disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number
generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.
++++++++++.+++++.+++++.++++++++++++++++++++g+++++++++++++++++++++++++.+++++++++++++++....+++++.+++++++++++++++.+++++.++++++++++++++++++++.+++++++++++++++..+++++>...+++++... .+++++..t.o. ..g..e..n..e.r..>..+++++...................a............<+++++..>.+++++.t..e.>+++++.<+++++.. ...................+++++^go^od ^^ gpg: key F9A8255C marked as ultimately trusted public and secret key created and signed.  gpg: checking the trustdb gpg: 3 marginal(s) needed, 1 complete(s) needed, PGP trust model gpg: depth: 0  valid:   2  signed:   0  trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 2u pub   1024D/F9A8255C 2009-09-17       Key fingerprint = 90EA 5A35 6C35 992D 2532  BCDD D85E 71D1 F9A8 255C uid                  Amitabh Jain (Amitabh's PGP key) 
sub   2048g/9D5318A2 2009-09-17

2. List PGP keys


ajain@ubuntu:~$ gpg --list-keys
/home/ajain/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
------------------------------
pub   1024D/F9A8255C 2009-09-17
uid                  Amitabh Jain (Amitabh's PGP key) 
sub   2048g/9D5318A2 2009-09-17

3. Export PGP public key to text file (so you can share it with others)


ajain@ubuntu:~/temp$ gpg --armor --export amitabhj@gmail.com >aj_pgp_pub.txt

4. Export private key, so you can back it up at a secure place (in case your computer crashes),
or if you need to use it on another computer


ajain@ubuntu:~/temp$ gpg --export-secret-keys amitabhj@gmail.com >aj_pgp_private.txt

(copy the file over to new machine)

ajain@ubuntu2:~/temp$ gpg --import aj_pgp_private.txt

References:
1. A Practical Introduction to GNU Privacy Guard in Windows
2. GPG/PGP Basics

mysql: Got a packet bigger than ‘max_allowed_packet’ bytes

2009-06-22T20:30:00.001+05:30

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/93128/mysql-got-a-packet-bigger-than-maxallowedpacket-bytes

stackoverflow rocks!

Best spidering tool for Windows is ..

2009-05-27T18:09:00.002+05:30

wget period!

For example:

wget -rkp -np http://site-to-spider

-r: recursive

Turn on recursive retrieving

-k: convert-links

After the download is complete, convert the links in

the document to make them suitable for local viewing.

-p: page-requisites

This option causes Wget to download all the files that

are necessary to properly display a given HTML page.

-np: no-parent

Do not ever ascend to the parent directory when

retrieving recursively.

2009-05-10T12:40:00.007+05:30

I use Ubuntu at work. Instead of typing ls (list directory - similar to dir on Windows), I typed sl today. I got a message saying sl was not installed and that I can installed it using apt-get install sl.

Did that. Entered sl.

And, I saw a train chugging across my screen! See screenshot.

What accidental fun!!! It is great to have this ubuntu feature that lets you know which package to install to run a particular command (in case it is not installed).

p.s. Package description for ls is -
Correct you if you type `sl' by mistake
Sl is a program that can display animations aimed to correct you if you type 'sl' by mistake.
SL stands for Steam Locomotive.

2009-05-06T19:05:00.001+05:30

OpenStreetMap moves to PostgreSQL

The comment about a mix of tables really hits home, since so many MySQL features are split across table types. Want transactions? InnoDB! Want full text search? MyISAM! Want spatial? MyISAM! Want spatial or full-text and transactions? Tough. The devil is in the details. When asked: does MySQL support spatial, transactions, full-text? the MySQL answer is "yes", "yes", "yes", but the reality in production is not nearly so clear-cut.

date difference, current date in mysql

2009-05-06T18:55:00.002+05:30

Reference: Date and time functions in MySQL 5.1

DATEDIFF() returns expr1 – expr2 expressed as a value in days from one date to the other. expr1 and expr2 are date or date-and-time expressions. Only the date parts of the values are used in the calculation.

mysql> SELECT DATEDIFF('2007-12-31 23:59:59','2007-12-30');
       -> 1
mysql> SELECT DATEDIFF('2010-11-30 23:59:59','2010-12-31');
       -> -31

CURDATE()

Returns the current date as a value in 'YYYY-MM-DD' or YYYYMMDD format, depending on whether the function is used in a string or numeric context.

mysql> SELECT CURDATE();
       -> '2008-06-13'
mysql> SELECT CURDATE() + 0;
       -> 20080613

2009-05-05T11:51:00.001+05:30

What makes Avendus stand out?

Just around the corner sounds both ominous and immediate. That eponymous Bandra eatery hosted two budding i-bankers in September 1999 - Ranu Vohra and Gaurav Deepak — both of whom had a dream of starting their own investment bank and they did.

Earlier this year, as the Satyam board mandated their firm Avendus, along with Wall Street heavyweight Goldman Sachs, to sell Satyam, the move triggered off a marquee deal that any bulge-bracket investment bank would have given its right arm for.

For Avendus, it was the firm’s biggest challenge ever and also its moment of truth. After all, it was a deal that held global interest. “The Satyam deal demonstrates our ability to engage in and conclude large complex transactions. We are delighted that the Government, Board of Satyam and advisors enabled us to close a landmark deal in the history of Corporate India in a tight timeframe,” says Ranu Vohra, managing director and CEO of Avendus.

2009-04-22T13:25:00.000+05:30

Your Distro is Insecure: Ubuntu

Unfortunately, many Linux distributions make a number of painfully wrong security decisions at install. All too often these issues are overlooked by the administrator since the prevailing wisdom tends to be: “If it’s Linux, it’s secure.” As we’ll soon see, that’s not always the case.

2009-04-22T13:23:00.000+05:30

Tough economy puts Microsoft on the verge of historic moment

Wall Street analysts expect Microsoft's quarterly revenue to fall by 2 percent, and possibly more, when the company reports its financial results Thursday afternoon. If it happens, it would be Microsoft's first year-over-year decline in quarterly revenue as a public company, based on our review of financial statements dating to the mid-1980s.

Corruption in India like Africa: WB official

2009-01-18T10:43:00.000+05:30

Corruption in India like Africa: WB official: "In the case of the $800 million loan to health sector projects in India, a team of investigators found dummy companies that were paid by the Bank for products and services that were never delivered and a plethora of bribes and kickbacks that went into the pockets of senior government officials. This was the basis of Wolfowitz's suspension of the loan to India."

Microsoft Bid to Beat Google Builds on a History of Misses - WSJ.com

2009-01-18T10:38:00.001+05:30

Microsoft Bid to Beat Google Builds on a History of Misses - WSJ.com:

In 2000, before Google married Web search with advertising, Microsoft had a rudimentary system that did the same, called Keywords, running on the Web. Advertisers began signing up. But Microsoft executives, in part fearing the company would cannibalize other revenue streams, shut it down after two months.

Microsoft got a second chance in early 2003 when top executives proposed that the company buy Overture Services Inc., a pioneer in combining search results with ads. Mr. Ballmer and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates shot down the deal. Instead, Overture was snapped up by Yahoo -- and now forms a cornerstone of the Yahoo unit Mr. Ballmer covets.

m3m.in - Email to SMS service in India

2008-11-16T18:56:00.003+05:30

I am happy to see one innovative service that has recently launched in India. It is an Email to SMS service available at m3m.in.

This service:
* Forwards your emails as SMS to your phone
* Allows you to "Reply", "Reply All" using SMS
* Provides a fast loading HTML interface that can accessed using your phone's browser (if you have GPRS enabled).

For a long time, to access email on one's phone, there were two main options.

1. One needed to buy an expensive (and fragile) PDA phone and pay for a GPRS account to download emails. Downloading emails is also a slow and expensive (due to GPRS data transfer) operation.

2. For a smoother and faster experience, one could sign up for Blackberry service. It provides Push Email service using their proprietary technology. Emails don't have to be explicitly downloaded. They are automatically pushed to the Blackberry device and user can read them without the in-between wait for the emails to download. The downside is that the Blackberry devices are also on the expensive side. The biggest drawback is the cost of the Blackberry data plan which is approximately Rs 1000 per month.

Many people could not access email on phone as they could not afford the above phones and the cost of a GPRS account/ Blackberry service to regularly download/send emails.

There also exists a category of people that will like to receive certain emails (say, from customers) but want to avoid receiving "all" emails (as they do not like an always-connected lifestyle). Or, because they did not feel the value-cost proposition of Blackberry-like services was worth it.

Now, due to this new service, both can access their emails on their regular phones. Great to see such innovation happening out of India.

I spent today afternoon trying out this service and it has been very professionally implemented. And, for now, it seems to be free for individuals.

stackoverflow.com

2008-11-11T05:53:00.001+05:30

Discovered stackoverflow.com today. It is a great community Q&A site for programmers.

2008-10-07T00:17:00.002+05:30

बुरा जो देखन मैं चला, बुरा न मिलिया कोय।
जो दिल खोजा अपना, मुझ-सा बुरा न कोय।।
- कबीर

I went searching for badness, did not find anyone who was bad.
When I searched my heart, I realized there was no one as bad as me.
- kabeer

financial mayhem

2008-10-04T12:08:00.002+05:30

Nice article:

What is subprime crisis? How it caused financial mayhem?

Excerpt:

It all begins with an American wanting to live the famed American dream. So he seeks a housing loan to give shape to his dream home. But there is a slight problem.

Python 2.6 Released

2008-10-04T06:13:00.001+05:30

Python language slithers into the future with 2.6 release

What's new in Python 2.6

WiFi Security

2008-10-04T06:10:00.000+05:30

If you are running a WiFi network at home or office, you MUST secure the traffic between you computer and Wireless Router in the RIGHT way. If not, someone can intercept the traffic between your computer and Router and get hold of your email, paypal passwords etc. or other sensitive information.

1. Are you securing the traffic at all or are you running your WR in Open mode?

2. If yes, are you securing it in the right way? Using WEP (default first option provided by most WRs) is very risky. WEP can be cracked using freely available tools in a few minutes.

For techies, it would be an interesting exercise to actually perform this exercise. Figure out how you will tap into open or WEP secured WiFi traffic and access the information in the traffic using freely available tools.

Some links:

Credit card processors finally get clue, will ban WEP

Wired Equivalent Privacy

Disconnecting Distraction

2008-10-01T20:30:00.002+05:30

The essay on Disconnecting Distraction by Paul Graham is a must read. Excerpts:

Procrastination feeds on distractions. Most people find it uncomfortable just to sit and do nothing; you avoid work by doing something else.

So one way to beat procrastination is to starve it of distractions. But that's not as straightforward as it sounds, because there are people working hard to distract you. Distraction is not a static obstacle that you avoid like you might avoid a rock in the road. Distraction seeks you out.
...
After years of carefully avoiding classic time sinks like TV, games, and Usenet, I still managed to fall prey to distraction, because I didn't realize that it evolves. Something that used to be safe, using the Internet, gradually became more and more dangerous. Some days I'd wake up, get a cup of tea and check the news, then check email, then check the news again, then answer a few emails, then suddenly notice it was almost lunchtime and I hadn't gotten any real work done. And this started to happen more and more often.

computer-screens and television | कंप्यूटर स्क्रीन्स और टेलिविज़न

2008-10-01T19:28:00.005+05:30

There are a lot of us who spend the whole day glued to our computers. Like me. I need to do programming, review code, write documents, chat with people, etc. At the end of the day, I have little desire left to go and see television. It is like going from looking at one screen to another. Sometime I wonder how many people feel the same way....

बहुत लोग हैं जो सारा दिन कंप्यूटर के सामने बिताते हैं। जैसे कि मैं। मैं कंप्यूटर द्वारा programming, code review, documents लिखना, लोगों से चैट करना इत्यादि करता हूँ। सारे दिन कंप्यूटर पे काम करने के बाद बिल्कुल टेलिविज़न को देखने का मन नहीं करता। दिन में एक स्क्रीन और शाम में दूसरा स्क्रीन! कभी-कभी मन में ख़याल आता है कि कितने लोग ऐसा सोचते होंगे?

Rock On!!

2008-09-13T18:11:00.004+05:30

Saw Rock On today. The movie rocks - don't miss it!!!

Rock On!! is the story of 4 friends who put together the greatest band this country has even seen, but never make it. Years later, fate conspires to bring them together again and set them on a journey back to where they left off... a soul-searching pilgrimage into their past.

आज रॉक-ऑन देखी। बहुत अच्छी मूवी है, ज़रूर देखें!

रॉक-ऑन!! ४ दोस्तों की कहानी है जो एक बहुत ही अच्छा रॉक बैंड शुरू करते हैं, लेकिन कई कारणों की वजह से आगे नहीं बढ़ पाते। कई सालों बाद किस्मत उन्हें वापस मिलाती है। और फिर शुरू होता उनका एक सफर, उसी जगह से जहाँ रुक गया था। एक ऐसा सफर जो उन्हें उस अधूरे सफर को पूरा करने का मौका देता है।

The story behind Google Chrome

2008-09-05T18:00:00.001+05:30

The story behind Google Chrome makes for an interesting read. Excerpt:

The Google Chrome team assembled domain experts in various fields over the past six years, both through direct hires and acquisitions, to create a new browser and its critical components from scratch. GMail and Google Maps pushed the Web to its limits, taking advantage of browser technologies invented in Redmond but left dormant for far too long. Contributing to Firefox's core, writing browser extensions, and championing HTML could only take the $150 billion company so far: they needed to own the full browser to push their Web efforts forward at full speed.

ctrl-alt-del

2008-09-05T11:11:00.002+05:30

Came across a nice tag line on a friend's chat profile today:

"Wouldn't it be nice if whenever we messed up our life we could simply press "Ctrl Alt Delete" and start all over?"

A very nice (and fun!) way of saying that "we must live with the consequences of our decisions", which, I must admit, sounds very serious.

circle of desire

2008-09-05T11:09:00.002+05:30

There is an interesting ad that is being aired on television nowadays.

It shows a young college student walking on the road. On seeing a person driving a motorbike, the young man's expression changes. You can see that he too yearns for a bike.

The focus then shifts to the person on the bike. He sees another person on the bike but with a girlfriend behind him. You can see he wants a girlfriend too!

The focus shifts on the girlfriend. While riding on the bike, she sees a family with kids laughing and enjoying themselves. You can make out that she too is thinking about the day she will have a family like that.

The focus then shifts to the lady in the family that we just saw. She is passing a jewellery shop and she sees a beautiful necklace. You see that she is yearning for the necklace.

The focus then shifts to the shop. A person from the shop takes the necklace and gives it to a well dressed old man in his sixties. He takes the necklace and gets into a chauffer driven Mercedes. He is obviously very rich and well todo. The car starts moving and soon stops at a traffic signal. At the traffic signal, the old man sees the same young college student who was shown in the beginning. And you can see from his expression that he wishes he was young again.

This is the circle of desire!

GVR interview

2008-08-12T07:27:00.002+05:30

GVR (Guido van Rossum) is the creator of Python language. He has been at interviewed at:
The A-Z of Programming Language: Python

a good company website

2008-08-08T16:16:00.002+05:30

Today, while searching for some things, I came across the company site of Compulab, which is based in Isreal. This is the link. I really liked it. No nonsense jazz, to the point information, clearly presented information. All that a prospective customer needs.

I really liked it.

Steve Jobs on MobileMe: the full e-mail

2008-08-06T09:44:00.001+05:30

From Steve Jobs on MobileMe: the full e-mail:

The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services. And learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year.

Great lesson in how to write a tough email.

$12 computer

2008-08-06T09:36:00.001+05:30

From M.I.T. Team Working on $12 Computer Based on Apple II:

"If you just know how to type, that can be the difference between earning $1 an hour instead of $1 a day," Mr. Lomas said at the recent MIT International Development Design Summit.

The 1980's Apple II was the inspiration for Mr. Lomas. "My generation all had Apple IIs that we learned to type and play games on," Mr. Lomas said. "If we can get buy-in from programmers, we can develop these devices and give (Third World) schools Apple II computer labs like the ones I grew up with."

Awesome!

Bitnami and Rightscale

2008-08-05T09:31:00.003+05:30

Checkout Bitnami, Rightscale and Bitnami on Rightscale. Great stuff!

Bitnami provides easy to install packages for popular open source packages for different OS.

RightScale's automated cloud computing management system helps you create scalable web applications that run on Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud.

From Bitname on Rightscale page:

We have moved another step forward in our quest to simplify the deployment of open source server apps - we've taken them to the cloud . We're glad to announce the availability of BitNami instances on RightScale By combining RightScale's automated cloud computing management with BitNami's automated application deployment, you can have any BitNami-powered application running on your very own server in literally a matter of minutes.

buy books online in India on flipkart.com

2008-08-05T09:04:00.002+05:30

Few days back, my friend, Pradeep Patil, told me about a good Indian online store for books at flipkart.com. I really liked their site. Check out out. It is very professional and well done.

कुछ दिन पहले मेरे एक दोस्त, प्रदीप पाटिल, ने मुझे इन्टरनेट पे किताबे खरीदने के लिए एक भारतीय साईट, flipkart.com, के बारे में बताया। मुझे यह साईट बहुत अच्छी लगी। काफी मेहनत और लगन से बनाई गई है।

song search on guruji

2008-08-05T08:08:00.005+05:30

Last evening my wife asked me whether I knew the singer of a song "Roya Re". I did not. However, I happened to be logged onto the Internet at that time. My friend, Sanjay Kamble, had told me about the song search facility in the Indian search engine called guruji. Decided to try that. Went to guruji.com. Clicked on "Music" link at the top. Typed "roya re". Clicked on Search button. And, found the movie, singer and also an option to play the song. Great!

कल शाम मेरी पत्नी ने मुझसे पूछा कि क्या मैं "रोया रे" गाने के गायक का नाम जानता हूँ। मुझे नहीं पता था कि गायक कौन है। उस वक्त मैं इन्टरनेट पे था। मेरे एक दोस्त, संजय काम्बले, ने मुझे कुछ दिन पहले गुरूजी के song-search के बारे में बताया था। मैंने सोचा उधर कोशिश करके देखते हैं। guruji.com पे गया। Music कड़ी पे क्लिक किया। "roya re" टाइप करके सर्च बटन दबाया। और मुझे उस गाने के बारे में काफ़ी जानकारी मिली। उधर उस गाने को सुनने कि सुविधा भी थी। बढ़िया!

imo.im

2008-08-04T10:29:00.000+05:30

I am a big fan of meebo. Discovered imo.im yesterday. And I am loving it!

Former Employees of Google Prepare Rival Search Engine

2008-07-28T10:38:00.001+05:30

Former Employees of Google Prepare Rival Search Engine

Mr. Costello, a former researcher at Stanford, said that with 120 billion Web pages, Cuil’s search index is larger than any other. The company uses a form of data mining to group Web pages by content, which makes the search engine more efficient, he said. Instead of showing results as short snippets of text and images with links, it displays longer entries and uses more pictures. It also provides tools to help users further refine their queries.
...
Ms. Patterson left Google in 2006 to found Cuil. The new company has other prominent ex-Google employees, including Russell Power, who worked with Ms. Patterson on the large Google index, and Louis Monier, a former chief technology officer at AltaVista, a pioneering search engine. Cuil, which has about 30 employees and is in Menlo Park, Calif., has raised $33 million from venture investors.

Interesting!

Google to host AJAX-Javascript libraries

2008-07-28T10:21:00.001+05:30

Check out AJAX Libraries API. Got this via IndicThreads

It is a content distribution network and loading architecture for the most popular open source JavaScript libraries. By using the Google AJAX API Loader's google.load() method, your application has high speed, globally available access to a growing list of the most popular JavaScript open source libraries including: jQuery, prototype, script.aculo.us, MooTools and dojo Google works directly with the key stake holders for each library effort and accept the latest stable versions as they are released. Once we host a release of a given library, we are committed to hosting that release indefinitely.

What if we hosted these files? Everyone would see some instant benefits:
1) Caching can be done correctly, and once, by us... and developers have to do nothing
2) Gzip works
3) We can serve minified versions
4) The files are hosted by Google which has a distributed CDN at various points around the world, so the files are "close" to the user
5) The servers are fast
6) By using the same URLs, if a critical mass of applications use the Google infrastructure, when someone comes to your application the file may already be loaded!
7) A subtle performance (and security) issue revolves around the headers that you send up and down. Since you are using a special domain (NOTE: not google.com!), no cookies or other verbose headers will be sent up, saving precious bytes.

Do you get the feeling that Google is getting ready to compete with AWS(Amazon Web Services)?

Comparing different cloud computing services

2008-07-26T07:04:00.005+05:30

Came across this link via Mukul's post.
Cloud versus cloud: A guided tour of Amazon, Google, AppNexus, and GoGrid

To test out these services, I spent a few days with them and deployed a few Web sites. I opened up accounts at four providers, configured some virtual servers, and sent Web pages flowing in a few hours. Our choice of four providers wasn't as scientific as possible because there are a number of new services appearing, but I chose some of the big names and a few new services. Now, I can invoke Joni Mitchell and say I've looked at both sides of these services and offer some guidance.

A must read!

In my opinion, some more interesting service providers in this are:

Joyent: They have recently partnered with Sun to provide free scalable on-demand infrastructure to Google OpenSocial and Facebook developers. More details here and here.
Slicehost: Probably Slicehost is less about Cloud Computing and more about Xen based VPS hosting. However, multiple slices can be configured for load balancing. They have very good prices and offer a lot of flexibility. They are especially very good for developers who are in the initial stages of launching a web based service.

Both are Unix based. Joyent pretty much is a Solaris only shop and Slicehost uses Xen VPS.

It may also be useful to compile a list of sites that experience heaviest traffic and find out:

If they manage the hosting themselves by using traditional dedicated hosting.
If they use one of the cloud computing services.
If they use a VPS based solution.

Freeman starts upStart

2008-07-26T06:46:00.005+05:30

Freeman has started upStart. Freeman's post is here.

We support first time technology entrepreneurs in India with guidance and initial funding to help bootstrap ideas into businesses. We invest a small amount of money (3 - 5 lakh INR) enough to support a team of founders working from home for 4 months.

Let the startups roll in!

During 2001, I was working at Avendus. Among other things, we helped startups raise capital from VCs. There were a lot of startups we liked and thought would do well. However, the Indian VCs were very risk averse. They wanted to see a clear revenues pipeline before anything else. I was personally quite disappointed with this attitude. Maybe this was due to the general mood prevailing then. At that time, I felt that Indian startups with interesting ideas in the Indian space were at a disadvantage compared to startups in US, Europe, Japan, Korea etc. I wish something like upStart was there at that time.

But, better late than never! Good to see something like this happen in India. In the US, YCombinator, started by Paul Graham, is based on similar principles.

There are many interesting points about the model upStart and YCombinator follow which benefit the entrepreneurs greatly as opposed to the traditional VC funding model. These include independent decision making retained by the founders and relatively low levels of equity that must be shelled out for funding, experienced guidance and other benefits like more effective networking. Most of these are detailed in different posts on Freeman's blog and YCombinator site.

If you are lacking imagination like me, and are looking for startup ideas then read this list of ideas at YCombinator. If something excites you or you hit upon an original idea (global or unique to India), send an email to upStart! How easier can it be to get started?

Randy Pausch is no more

2008-07-25T23:00:00.002+05:30

‘Last Lecture’ Professor Randy Pausch, 47, Dies

Dr. Pausch, whose proudest professional achievement was creating a free computer programming tool for children called Alice, was an improbable celebrity
..
A lifetime problem solver, Dr. Pausch was determined to help his wife and children cope with his death. “I haven’t found a way to clever my way out of it,'’ he told me.

Do check out Alice.

Cloudvox

2008-07-25T09:23:00.001+05:30

Check out the Cloudvox service.

Cloudvox makes it simple for applications to place and receive phone calls. Add phone calls to your application in a few minutes, in your favorite language, alongside your other code, and callable immediately, with no new infrastructure.

Confessions of a born spectator (Poem)

2008-07-20T08:04:00.001+05:30

This poem still feels as funny as when I was at school

CONFESSIONS OF A BORN SPECTATOR
Poet: Ogden Nash

One infant grows up and becomes a jockey
Another plays basketball or hockey

This one the prize ring hates to enter
That one becomes a tackle or center

I am just glad as glad can be
That I am not them, that they are not me

With all my heart I do admire
Athletes who sweat for fun or hire

Who take the field in gaudy pomp
And maim each other as they romp

My limp and bashful spirit feeds
On other people's heroic deeds

Now A runs ninety yards to score
B knocks the champion to the floor

Crisking vertebrae and spines
Lashes his steed across the line

You'd think my ego it would please
To swap positions with one of these

Well, ego it might be pleased enough
But zealous athletes play so rough

They do not ever in their dealings
Consider one another's feelings

I'm glad that when my struggle begins
'Twixt prudence and ego, prudence wins

When swollen eye meets gnarled first
When snaps the knee, and cracks the wrist

When officialdom demands
Is there a doctor in the stands?

My soul in true thanksgiving speaks
For this modest of physiques

"Athletes, I'll drink to you,
Or eat with you
Or anything except compete with you

Buy tickets worth their radium
To watch you gamble in the stadium

And reassure myself anew
That you are not me and I'm not you

Walk In The Sunshine (Poem)

2008-07-20T07:58:00.001+05:30

A nice poem in 3rd standard syllabus (Maharashtra Board)

WALK IN THE SUNSHINE

I am going to walk in the sunshine
And smile at everyone I meet.
Greeting them with a big "how do you do?"
As I pass them on the street.

I am going to walk in the sunshine
I feel a light dance in my pace.
What a beautiful day it is today,
There is a great big smile on my face.

It isn't hard to be happy,
It really doesn't take too much time.
So put a smile on that face of yours,
A big one, exactly like mine.

Venture funding drops for startups

2008-07-20T05:17:00.002+05:30

Venture Funding Drops for Youngest Companies As Older Ones Suck Up More Cash

But the amount of money invested in companies seeking their first round of venture investment fell 12 percent to $1.6 billion, down from $1.8 billion in the first quarter. Also, first-round financings fell to just 21 percent of all venture funding — the lowest percentage since the fourth quarter 2004.
...
The top two deals of the quarter, valued at $132 million and $115 million, were investments in clean technology companies. Rising investment in that sector — which includes companies that deal with wind power, solar power and biofuels — plus an increase in funding for Internet companies helped keep venture investment figures

The Dark Knight

2008-07-18T13:44:00.003+05:30

A good movie review of the latest Batman movie is here. Having seen the movie, I completely agree with it. Excerpts from the review follow:

These are good and necessary things to ponder, yet they're nearly lost in the cross-cutting clutter. You come away impressed, oppressed, provoked, and beaten down, holding on to Ledger's squirrelly incandescence as a beacon in the darkness.

So: Is the performance on a par with "Brokeback Mountain"? In its interiority - in the sense that it springs from a mysterious engine at the actor's core - yes. Is it Oscar worthy? Sure, if that's how you measure these things. In the end, though, the achievement's more than that, or harder. It makes you mourn a gifted man's stupid death with fresh and vigorous sorrow.

The only things worth watching in the movie are (a) Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker and (b) two incredible stunts - the Hongkong kidnap and the toppling over of a trailer truck.

ख़राब कस्टमर सर्विस/ poor customer service

2008-07-17T20:33:00.005+05:30

There was a time when I was a proud customer of Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank. Over the last year, the service standards have fallen and how! Maybe in case of these companies, as they are becoming big and successful, the customer service has started taking a back seat. I am already thinking of switching to another telecom provider and bank. Six years back, I had switched from ICICI Bank to HDFC Bank for the same reasons.
--

एक समय था जब मुझे गर्व होता था कि मैं एयरटेल और HDFC बैंक का ग्राहक हूँ। लेकिन, पिछले एक साल से उनकी कस्टमर सर्विस दिन ब दिन ख़राब होती जा रही है। शायद अब ये इतने बड़े और कामयाब हो गए हैं कि अच्छी कस्टमर सर्विस की आवश्यकता उन्हें महसूस नहीं होती। मैं सोचता हूँ कि अपना बैंक और फ़ोन-सर्विस बदल दूँ। ६ साल पहले मैंने ICICI बैंक के खाते इन्ही कारणवश बंद कर दिए थे!

अंग्रेजी से हिंदी अनुवाद / English to Hindi translation.

2008-07-14T13:23:00.001+05:30

Google can now translate between English and Hindi. Excellent! This is available at http://translate.google.co.in/translate_t?sl=en&tl=hi. The translation is not perfect, but it is a start.

Google's automated translation technique is based on using existing translations to translate new text. They don't apply any language rules etc. to do so. They just use the all the available translations between the two languages to deduce the next translation. The link "Please suggest a improved translation" below the translated text allows the reader to correct Google's translation. It automatically adds to the knowledge base using which further translations can be improved.

I have posted the current translation of this text verbatim below.

--

गूगल अब अनुवाद कर सकते हैं अंग्रेजी और हिन्दी के बीच है . उत्कृष्ट ! यह http://translate.google.co.in/translate_t?sl=en&tl=hi पर उपलब्ध है . इस अनुवाद पूर्ण नहीं है , लेकिन यह एक शुरुआत है .

गूगल की तकनीक पर आधारित है स्वचालित अनुवाद का उपयोग करते हुए मौजूदा अनुवाद अनुवाद करने के लिए नया पाठ . वे किसी भी भाषा के नियम लागू नहीं आदि ऐसा करने के लिए . बस का प्रयोग करते हैं वे सभी उपलब्ध भाषाओं में अनुवाद करने के लिए दोनों के बीच अगले अनुवाद परिणाम निकालना है . इस कड़ी " कृपया सुझाव है कि एक बेहतर अनुवाद " अनुवादित पाठ के नीचे की अनुमति देता है पाठक गूगल के अनुवाद करने के लिए सही है . यह स्वतः ही को कहते हैं जो ज्ञान के आधार पर आगे के अनुवाद का उपयोग किया जा सकता है सुधार हुआ है .

मैंने इस पोस्ट के मौजूदा पाठ शब्दशः अनुवाद के नीचे है .

दो शादियाँ और पार्किंग की समस्या / Two marriages and parking problem

2008-07-13T13:34:00.003+05:30

Yesterday I had gone to Deccan for a meeting. The meeting was at 2 PM. I had reached a little earlier - around 1 PM. I started searching for a parking place. After searching for an hour, I finally found a place to park. During this period, I must have driven for at least 5-6 km. I asked the parking attendant the reason why no parking was available. Came to know that there were two marriages that were going on in Deccan at that time. The guests attending the marriage had exhausted all the available parking.

Next time I go I will try to find out beforehand if it is an auspicious day for marriages. If yes, it makes better sense to catch an auto-rickshaw than driving oneself!

कल मैं शहर के डेक्कन इलाके में एक मीटिंग के लिये गया था। मीटिंग दो बजे थी। मैं थोडा जल्दी पहुँच गया था - एक बजे के आसपास। मैं पार्किंग के लिये जगह ढूंढने लगा। एक घंटे बाद बहुत मुश्किल से एक जगह मिली। इस दौरान ५-६ किलोमीटर तो मैंने कार चलाई होगी। मैंने पार्किंग सहायक से पूछा कि क्या कारण है कि आज कहीं भी पार्किंग नहीं मिल रही है। पता चला कि उस इलाके में उस वक़्त दो शादियाँ चल रहीं थी। शादियों के मेहमानों की वजह से सारी पार्किंग खत्म हो गयी थी।

मैंने सोचा कि अगली बार यह पता करके ही निकलूंगा कि शादी का मुहुर्त है या नहीं। मुहुर्त होने पर औटो पकड़ना ज्यादा ठीक होगा!

CouchDB

2008-07-09T15:17:00.004+05:30

RESTing with CouchDB

RDMS’s are very powerful software packages, yet they are notorious for not being able to scale out. You can throw a lot of expensive hardware at the problem to scale up, but fairly soon you’ll need to consider techniques like summary rollups, vertical and horizontal partitioning, data warehousing, and sharding to try and scale out (see this piece about the difference between scaling up and scaling out). I cut my teeth working on what was at the time one of the top 5 largest known RDMS’s in the world. One of my jobs was to pull information out of this behemoth system; I definitely experienced the pain of implementing some of these techniques. They sound straight forward but can be incredibly expensive to create and maintain. (I haven’t tried sharding, and it sounds like it might come the closest to being able to scale out the database bottleneck. It is a fascinating idea.)

The CouchDB documentation is dripping with drool-worthy keywords: erlang, shared nothing clustering, a RESTful and JSON interface, lock-free concurrency, and ad-hoc and schema-free querying running through a map-reduce system. This all adds up to what can awkwardly be described as a distributed document non-relational database system.

This triggers some serious geek lust (my wife really begs to differ, but I love her anyway).

I liked the last sentence.

differentiation

2008-07-08T16:55:00.003+05:30

The way companies try to differentiate is intriguing. For instance, check out posterous. One can just send them an email to start a blog. Subsequent emails can be used to make posts, upload pictures, mp3 etc.

अलग दिखने को कोशिश में लोग क्या-क्या नहीं करते! मसाल के तौर पर posterous को देखिये। आपको सिर्फ़ एक ईमेल भेजना है - पहले ईमेल से ब्लॉग शुरू हो जाता है। अगले ईमेल से आप अपने विचार, फोटोग्राफ्स इत्यादि पोस्ट कर सकते हैं।

2008-07-06T04:18:00.001+05:30

Interesting article and discussion at: Java The Next App Engine Language?

2008-07-06T04:02:00.002+05:30

While studying GAE, one of my aims is to understand how it differs from Amazon's similar suite of services. The following article summarizes some important differences and benefits.

Google Under Pressure as App Engine Requests Rise

Unlike other hosted computing and development services, like Amazon's AWS, App Engine provides a highly integrated set of components, reducing the amount of tuning and configuring that developers must engage in.
This design sacrifices flexibility and control by reducing options, but is in line with App Engine's ultimate goal of appealing to developers who want to create and deploy their application quickly, and are happy to have Google handle the rest.
...
Bill Katz, a Palo Alto, California, web entrepreneur and developer, already wrote an application called Bloog, which he released under an open-source license, and is working on developing two other applications.
Since his team is made up of just himself and his wife, he values App Engine's integration, automation and simplicity.
"App Engine removes a number of tasks I'd have to handle for a very scalable web app, like maintaining multiple servers [and] a scalable database," he said.
He finds Amazon AWS "great" -- he uses its S3 service for his personal backup storage and might use EC2 to host some Web services that App Engine can't support -- but recognizes it targets a different market.
"AWS provides raw components that can be put together in a number of ways to make a scalable web app. Google App Engine, on the other hand, provides a fully integrated stack that requires you to work a certain way," he said.

2008-07-05T13:57:00.002+05:30

From the blog of the creators of brave new fiction:

Overall, app engine was amazing to work with. I had no prior experience with python or GAE (obviously) but the entire application took about 16 hours to create from start to finish. All of that is attributed to both python and GAE, I can’t say enough about either.

brave new fiction

2008-07-05T13:16:00.005+05:30

While looking at the featured applications that are hosted at Google app engine, I came across a cute and interesting one: brave new fiction.

brave new fiction is a twist on creative writing. writers have 1 line a day, 140 characters per line to tell your story.

A very simple idea that has been nicely implemented. Hats off!

गूगल एप्प इंजन पे डाले हुए चुने हुए अप्प्स को देखते समय, एक दिलचस्प एप्प मिला : brave new fiction
यह लेखकों को एक लाइन और १४० अक्षरों के ज़रिये अपनी कहानी बताने का मौका देता है । मुझे यह concept काफी अच्छा लगा । इसे अच्छे और सरल ढंग से बनाया गया है ।

2008-07-05T11:50:00.005+05:30

I have fallen in love with Google app engine. Amazon is going to have tremendous competition.. Shall be studying more about the Google app engine over the next few days, and write a few sample apps and host them. Let us see how it goes. Boy, am I excited! I am like the kid who found a very nice toy!

मुझे गूगल एप्प इंजन से प्यार हो गया है । Amazon को एक कड़क मुकाबला मिलने वाला है । देखते हैं आगे जाके क्या होता है । अगले कुछ दिनों में मैं इस बारे में और पढूंगा, कुछ छोटे apps बनाऊंगा और उन्हें एप्प इंजन पे डालूँगा । बहुत मज़ा आएगा ! ऐसे लग रहा कि मैं उस छोटे बच्चे कि तरह हूँ जिसे एक नया खिलौना मिल गया है ।

हिन्दी में लिखना (to write in hindi)

2008-07-05T11:03:00.003+05:30

हिन्दी में पढ़ने-लिखने का मौका तो अब ना के बराबर ही हो गया है । पाठशाला में ही हिन्दी बिषय सीखते हुए पढ़ते-लिखते थे । ईमेल के आने से पहले जो थोडी बहुत चिट्ठियां लिखते थे, उनमे हिन्दी इस्तेमाल करने का मौका मिल जाता था । बाद की सारी पढ़ाई अंग्रेज़ी में होने की वजह से हिन्दी में पढ़ना लिखना तो बहुत कम हो गया है । सिर्फ़ बोलने में उसका इस्तेमाल होता है । भारत में रहते हुए मुझे अजीब लगता है कि मेरे जैसे लाखों लोग (जो सॉफ्टवेर डेवेलोपमेंट या विदेशी व्यवसाय में हैं) दिन ब दिन हिन्दी भूलते जा रहे है । जो देश के बाहर रहते होंगे, उनका तो और भी बुरा हाल होता होगा ।

शायद एक ही तरीका है कि हम हिन्दी पढ़ना-लिखना ना भूले । अगर हम हिन्दी में लिखे लुए अख़बार, पत्रिकाएं, ब्लोग्स नियमानुसार पढ़ें तो हमारी हिन्दी दिन ब दिन ख़राब होने की जगह थोडी सुधर जायेगी ।

Google Appengine

2008-07-05T10:52:00.002+05:30

Today, I have started investigating and learning more about the Google app engine and how to develop apps that can run on it. I am excited!

आज मैंने गूगल एप्प-इंजन और उसके लिए ऍप्लिकेशन डेवेलोपमेंट के बारे में सीखना शुरू किया है । बहुत मज़ा आएगा !

m17n

2008-07-03T18:57:00.003+05:30

Today, I installed language support for Hindi, Marathi and Japanese on my Ubuntu machine.

I prefer to use Baraha like transliteration to type Hindi and Marathi. This does not get installed by default. To do so, I needed to install the foll. packages: libm17n-0, m17n-db and scim-m17n (more here and here).

I had never heard of m17n before, so tried to find some more.
m17n is a multi-lingualization library that tries to solve the problem of inputting, storing and rendering strings from different languages around the world in a UNIX like way.

Main website is at m17n.org.

The following article is helpful to understand more details: Port your code around the world with m17n
The example about the rendering of the word hindi (हिन्दी) is interesting.

2008-07-01T18:37:00.001+05:30

From Rs 50 to a Forbes billionaire

Menon set up his empire in the Sultanate of Oman with just Rs 50 in hand. Through sheer hard work and some wise decisions, he has become one of the most successful businessmen from India. Today, his company has a presence in India, Dubai, and Oman.

SMS Gupshup vis-a-vis Twitter

2008-06-25T13:02:00.002+05:30

Came across an interesting article today:
India's SMS GupShup Has 3x The Usage Of Twitter And No Downtime

... Then I read this TechCrunch post on the Twitter usage numbers and sympathy turned to bafflement - because I'm intimately familiar with SMS Gupshup, a startup in India that boasts usage numbers much, much higher than Twitter's, but has scaled without a glitch.
I'll let the numbers speak for themselves:
Users: Twitter (1+ million), SMS GupShup (7 million)
Messages per day: Twitter (3 million); SMS GupShup (10+ million)

Actually, these numbers don't even tell the whole story. India is a land of few PCs and many mobile phones. Thus, almost all GupShup messages are posted via mobile phones using SMS. And almost every GupShup message is posted simultaneously to the website and to the mobile phones of followers via SMS. That's why they have the SMS in the name of the service. Contrast with Twitter, where the majority of the posting and reading is done through the web.
...

distributed version control systems (DVCS)

2008-06-21T17:42:00.003+05:30

Like a lot of others, I am also shifting our projects from subversion to one of the distributed version control systems - yet to decide which one. The popular ones are git, mercurial and bazaar. git is very fast and powerful (it is developed in C and used to manage the linux kernel codebase), while mercurial and bazaar are developed in Python. Hence, they may be more hackable or flexible. I may be completely wrong here, but I generally feel something developed in a language like Python/Ruby is easier to extend, change, grow as opposed to something developed in C.

DVCS are quite different from centralized VCS. It can be quite confusing to understand the concepts. While I was reading up on them, the following link helped a lot.

Introduction to Distributed Version Control System - Illustrated

ubuntu

2008-06-16T09:58:00.002+05:30

I have been trying out the latest version of Ubuntu - version 8.04 LTS - on both my desktop and laptop for regular day to day use. It has been working very well and I have decided to completely shift to it.

Professor Sanjay Bakshi

2008-05-22T18:47:00.003+05:30

This account of Prof. Sanjay Bakshi's life is an inspiring read.
Prof called Sanjay Bakshi

moneyyoga

2008-05-22T16:40:00.002+05:30

An interesting interview with the founder of an interesting startup (Indian!).
Deepak Shenoy: Entrepreneurship Is Overrated. Is It Really?

The startup in question is moneyyoga.

TIOBE declares Python as programming language of 2007

2008-02-08T09:00:00.000+05:30

Seems Python's popularity is going up:
TIOBE declares Python as programming language of 2007

1. Python displaces Perl!!
2. Ruby going down??

Sendmail - setting outgoing IP address

2008-02-05T11:34:00.000+05:30

If
(a) you have configured your server to use multiple IPs, and
(b) you want to configure sendmail to use an IP, which is not the primary IP, to identify itself to other mail servers, then
you have to configure sendmail with CLIENT_OPTIONS configuration.

More about it at

Set Outbound IP

Setting outgoing mail IP address
Sendmail - sending IP address

Example using CentOS4:
1. Make changes to sendmail.mc

$su
# you must be root to do all the steps below

$ cd /etc/mail
$ vi sendmail.mc

2. Add CLIENT_OPTIONS to the sendmail.mc file

3. compile sendmail.mc to sendmail.cf

$ make -C /etc/mail
# above calls m4 to compile the .mc file to .cf format. See Makefile in /etc/mail for more info.

4. Restart sendmail

$ service sendmail restart

And, you are set!

extracting process ids of interest

2008-02-02T16:26:00.001+05:30

Using cut in bash scripts

An interesting thread that is worth a read for anyone who has tried to extract pids of interest for later manipulation. I have seen that many people are not aware about the pgrep utility. "man pgrep" is a must-read.

assign virtual IPs to your NIC

2008-02-02T16:26:00.000+05:30

Assign Virtual IPs to your NIC

Can a network card have multiple IPs assigned to it?
The answer is absolutely yes! Some times, for example when you run several servers on a machine or when you need IP-based Apache virtualhosts, it is useful to bind a server or a virtualhost on its own IP address.

securing fedora

2008-01-25T02:36:00.000+05:30

Even though we are now living in times of Fedora 8, the following article is recommended:
Securing a new Fedora 6 slice.

It details the basics of securing a Fedora installation.

installing and configuring mysql on a remote fedora server

2008-01-25T01:22:00.000+05:30

To install and configure mysql on a remote fedora server:

1. login or su as root

2. install mysql-server and mysql packages

$ yum install mysql-server

above installs mysql package automatically (needed to connect to mysql server from command line)

3. set mysql so that it starts automatically everytime when the computer starts

$ chkconfig -levels 235 mysqld on

4. start mysql server

$ /etc/init.d/mysqld start

5. change mysql root password

$ mysqladmin -uroot password new_password
$ mysqladmin -h server.host.com -u root password new_password

And, you are set!

nano makes it to Time's most important cars of all times

2008-01-20T19:34:00.000+05:30

Nano makes it to Time’s most important cars of all time is an interesting article.

This week's Businessworld too has a good feature on Nano. The interesting history behind it, how the team got formed, the problems they faced and the solutions they came up with etc.

I am very proud Nano happened out of India - I feel it will revolutionize the auto industry in Asia and developing countries. It has certainly put India on the global automobile map. I only hope Tata is able to maintain the momentum and capitalize on this opportunity, otherwise companies like Toyota will eventually catch up.

One of my friends was saying that China will come up with a cheaper car in the next 3-4 months!

The only other car I find interesting from innovation perspective is Tesla. Who could have guessed that the founder of Paypal would attempt simultaneous startups in automobile and space industries!

IDEs for Ruby, Rails

2008-01-02T06:21:00.001+05:30

Mainstream IDE companies like Jetbrains (makers of IntelliJ IDEA) and CodeGear (makers of JBuilder) have recently released dedicated IDEs and/or significant support for the Ruby language and the Rails framework recently.

Support in IntelliJ IDEA. Also, look at the flash demos on the site - they are cool!
3rd Rail

I don't remember other dynamic languages PHP/Python/Perl and/or frameworks based on them supported by mainstream IDE companies ever.

Sun is supporting JRuby and Rails running well on it in a big way!

I guess that is a tribute to the popularity of Ruby and Rails and a sign of times to come.

BSNL dial-up

2008-01-02T06:08:00.001+05:30

We were having some problems with our regular broadband connection recently. At times, it was urgent for me to get on to the Internet to check emails, send status updates to customers, etc.. I went to the market looking for a dial-up pack, but realized that no one stocks them any more!

Hunting for options, I came to know that it is easy to setup BSN dial-up if you have a BSNL phone.

In Pune, where I live, you can set up a BSNL dial-up as follows:

1. Create a dial up with following properties
Phone to dial: 172222
Username: netone
Password: netone

2. Open http://netonepun.bsnl.co.in and register your phone.
Your user name is 20 followed by your phone number.
The password is what you chose during registration.

3. Change the username and password of the dial-up connection
from netone to the ones specified in step 2.

And, you are ready to roll!

More information here: http://netonepun.bsnl.co.in/

Serial for mobiles

2008-01-02T05:41:00.000+05:30

India's first serial for mobiles next month

Rajat, the younger brother of Sooraj Barjatya who owns Rajshri Productions, is coming up with the first ever serial for mobile phone users in India.

"I hate to use the term first. I would rather say that we are among the first to make a serious attempt at doing this. We have produced a 90-episode series, with three minutes per episode, and it is in the humour genre," Rajat said.

His company Rajshri Media that was launched last year specialises in producing content for new media like the Internet, mobile phones and iPods.

AJAX enabled webapps as a basic requirement?

2007-11-19T18:23:00.000+05:30

I am noticing an odd thing recently. If a web application does not use AJAX for doing simple page updates, I feel impatient. Maybe using Google and similar services for a long time is causing this change of expectation.

Going forward, probably web apps that don't use AJAX effectively will be discarded by users in favor of ones that do. I feel that older web apps with significant HTML based user interfaces will need to invest in upgrading existing applications towards this. Otherwise they risk losing users.

programming basic intelligence

2007-11-19T18:01:00.000+05:30

Today when submitting a form online, I got the following error message:
invalid url: www.xyz.com

I found that somewhat irritating. When I added an http before the url, the form was accepted.

Curious, I decided to try entering different values for the url.
1. http://www
2. http://www.
3. http://www.com
4. http://abcd.def.ghi.ijkl

(1) and (2) gave the same invalid url error, while (3) and (4) were accepted.

They could have added basic "usability intelligence" to the system. If the user does not enter a http://, the system should add it. I am sure many users are getting the same error. And I am sure it is pretty cryptic for non technical users.

At the very least, they should improve the error message. "invalid url" is just too lazy.

free! online personal assistant

2007-11-19T17:56:00.000+05:30

i want sandy.

Worth a look!

Hi! I’m Sandy, your new assistant. I'll remember the details so you can focus on what's important.

* Kick off your morning knowing what's on for the day.
* Keep your day moving forward with reminders right when you need them.
* Books to read, people to call, your cousin's birthday — I'll remember it all.
* Stay organized with everyone in your life — effortlessly.

2007-11-16T12:54:00.000+05:30

The Man Behind the VC Slagfest at TheFunded.com Reveals Himself to Wired

I get the sense that Ted enjoys this cloak-and-dagger routine. After all, he's been playing it since the beginning of the year, when he launched TheFunded.com, a community site for startups to anonymously review and rank venture capital firms. In effect, it has given entrepreneurs a peek into the secretive VC industry and a chance to dish about some of the unseemly behavior they've witnessed there. "We have seen distinctive pieces of our business plan end up in marketing materials of a competitor," reads one testimony. "The senior guy was arrogant, rude, and dismissive," reads another. "He had his feet up on the table the whole time he was telling us how bad our business is." Visitors to TheFunded can pore over tales of VCs who overwhelm a founder's influence, who change deal terms at the last minute, and who find out what other VCs offered a company to weaken its bargaining position. TheFunded has also become something of a support group for its 3,150 members; when one recent poster asked whether he should accept a deal that would give a VC the sole right to sell his company, he received 19 responses, including "AVOID" and "Run!"

2007-11-13T10:51:00.000+05:30

Upcoming's Founder on Going From Giants to Startups (and Back Again)

Despite the success he's seen with Upcoming, Baio also cautions that starting from the ground up shouldn't be about flipping the business. "Acquisition should never be the goal," Baio cautioned. "Build something people love, and build revenue to keep it sustainable. After that, the decision to sell is very personal." He continued, "For Upcoming, going to Yahoo! was the best thing we could've done to improve the site and grow the community, so that made the decision easy. But if you're only building something to flip it, you've already lost."

शुभ दीपावली! Happy Diwali!

2007-11-09T09:01:00.000+05:30

A very happy Diwali to everyone! And a joyous and prosperous new year!

आप सबको बहुत शुभ दीपावली! आने वाले वर्ष में आपको बहुत खुशियाँ और सफलता मिलें|

hiveminder

2007-11-05T14:04:00.000+05:30

If you are into todo lists using web based tools/services, check out hiveminder.com. Its design is well thought out. The data entry part is simple and intuitive too.

--

मुझे टूडू-सूचियों को सँभालने के लिए इंटरनेट पे एक अच्छी सर्विस दिखाई दी। यह सर्विस hiveminder.com पे उपलब्ध है| इसमे डाटा को एन्टर करना काफी आसान है|

2007-11-02T19:05:00.000+05:30

Interesting reading. Pownce is made using Django, Perlbal, Amazon S3 and Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR).

Interview with Leah Culver: The Making of Pownce

2007-10-26T08:55:00.000+05:30

Good reading stuff!

पढ़ने लायक!

A million dollar company built on a failure

What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs?
First thing would be, if you believe in yourself and that what you are doing is right and has a future, then you should persevere and work honestly towards your goal. If you do this, you will surely be successful one day. You will get a million people who will laugh it off and discourage you from doing what you are doing, but you have to persevere. The world will never believe in you till you achieve something. That perhaps is the most difficult aspect for the people who are starting on their own.

2007-10-25T18:50:00.000+05:30

A must read blog entry from one of the founder of Quill! It discusses transliteration concepts.

Quill - a predictive transliteration system

---
In Hindi:

Quill के एक founder द्वारा लिखा हुआ एक पढ़ने लायक लेख जो transliteration के बारे में अच्छी जानकारी देता है।

Quill - a predictive transliteration system

2007-09-30T15:21:00.000+05:30

Vishy Anand is the new world chess champion! Details here. It is a proud day for Indian chess!!!

विश्वनाथन आनंद शतरंज के नए विश्व चैम्पियन बन गए हैं! हर भारतीय शतरंज प्रेमी के लिए बहुत गर्व की बात है!!!

google indic transliteration tool

2007-09-14T14:41:00.000+05:30

NOTE: You need Hindi (Devanagri) fonts installed to read what follows. Basically, it is my impression of the Google Indic Transliteration tool in Hindi!

यह post मैं Google के indic transliteration tool द्वारा लिख रहा हूँ. यह काफ़ी आसान और intuitive है. मुझे पसंद आया. मैं कभी कभी सोचता हूँ कि दूसरी companies ऐसे tools क्यों नहीं बना पाती?

शायद इसीलिये Google आज दुनिया की सर्वश्रेष्ठ टेक्नोलॉजी कंपनी मानी जाती है.

वापस कहना पड़ रहा है. यह चीज़ बहुत अच्छी है!

-अमिताभ

2007-09-13T05:54:00.000+05:30

Sun streams through Windows

What an irony to read this piece of news!

We always compare Linux and Windows. Many don't realize that it was Linux which pretty effectively killed Sun's earlier business model.

2007-09-07T18:53:00.000+05:30

Nice content at Found+READ. For example, View from the ground, up

2007-08-28T05:02:00.000+05:30

Good article about moving to Linux - Moving from FreeBSD to Linux - why?

But then it started to be a drag. Each and every day seemed to bring new challenges that just took too much time to solve. I really wasn’t in it for hackers paradise - I wanted an OS that just worked. The last straw was trying to get my dual monitor setup working. Literally days of xorg.conf tweaking later only gave me partial satisfaction, so I began looking around at Linux distros.

After a week or so of trying all the popular distros, I settled on openSUSE. I didn’t know about the “sleeping with the enemy” reputation of Novell, for better or for worse, so it didn’t enter into my consideration. This was way back in May of this year and I couldn’t be happier.

The best distros I like are OpenSUSE and Ubuntu.