Diablo III - when will it be ready???

The rumors were true. Blizzard entertainment has announced Diablo III. The game is currently in development for OS X and Windows although there is no release date or price yet. The company is known for telling the public that this game will be released only when they are done. Blizzard unveiled Diablo III at a world wide invitational gaming event held in Europe, and has posted details on its website including the cinematic trailer and game play video that offers an in-depth look at some of the games new capabilities and features. Diablo II was released in the year 2000. Since then the company has turned its attention to its Warcraft franchise and is also working on Starcraft II.

Hope the game gets released soon. Any known updates on the game, please post it in the comments section. I cant wait to play this game!!!

Source : Macworld US

Save photos from Orkut albums!!!

Orkut, one of the best social networking sites has become more concerned about the security issues on its website. Because of this, it brought many restrictions in viewing the albums and scrapbooks. Now, it has even restricted the users to save photos from their friend’s albums. I was really fed up with this move by orkut as I was unable to save few of my childhood snaps from my friend’s album. Orkut gave me no other choice than to follow this procedure. This trick is done using Firefox.
Go to your friend’s album and view the snap which you want to save to your computer. Then in the menu bar, click Tools and then click Page Info. In the newly opened window, select the Media tab and there you will be see a list of URL’s of the images available on the page you are viewing. In that select the URL of the photo you want to download and then click Save as to save the snap to your computer. That’s it. You have successfully saved the photo to your computer.

P.S : This trick is only for those who are desperate to get the snaps from their buddy’s album. Am not responsible if this trick was used for bad cause.

Update : Simplest trick for saving orkut photos in here

AMD's Revenge

For nearly two years, the only GPUs I recommended were made by Nvidia. After the AMD-led acquisition, ATI was simply no longer competitive in the graphics business. The ATI that obliterated Nvidia with its Radeon 9700 was long forgotten, and Nvidia had been doing so well that we didn’t even really notice. Nvidia’s product releases were good enough that we didn’t even pick up on the fact that we were suffering because of a lack of competition (more on that in a bit).
The first sign of competition from ATI came with the RV670, the basis for the Radeon HD 3850 and 3870. Nvidia preempted the RV670’s launch by releasing one of the best values in PC graphics I’ve ever seen: the GeForce 8800 GT. Nvidia rained on ATI’s parade, and although the RV670 was competitive, it merely got an honorable mention as it was good but not great. Our review on Anand Tech of the 8800 GT was aptly titled, “The Only Card That Matters.” ATI really hated that.
During Nvidia’s launch of its successor to the G80 (the GPU that was the basis for the GeForce 8800 GTX), we began to get the feeling that something may be wrong. While Nvidia’s GT200 is a tremendously impressive GPU, it is simply priced too high. The GeForce GTX 280 carries a $650 price tag and is generally outperformed by Nvidia’s own $500 GeForce 9800 GX2. The GT200 is also a strictly high-end GPU, leaving the 8800 GT and the new 9800 GTX to occupy the $200 and $300 price points, respectively.
Then came AMD’s revenge.
The RV770 is a much larger, faster, and improved version of the RV670. But speed alone doesn’t tell the whole story here; the RV770 launched as the Radeon HD 4850 and 4870, priced at $199 and $299, respectively. The main differences between the two are clock speeds and memory bandwidth, but at these prices AMD as completely reset performance expectations—even more than Nvidia did with the 8800 GT last year.
The $199 Radeon HD 4850 is generally faster than Nvidia’s GeForce 9800 GTX. It is so fast, in fact, that Nvidia had to drop the price of its 9800 GTX from $299 down to $199 to remain competitive. But even with the 9800 GTX’s lower price, the Radeon HD 4850 is still the better overall buy.
The Radeon HD 4870, at $299, now finds itself without a competitor from Nvidia. It is clearly faster than the 9800 GTX and in many cases out performs the GTX 260, priced at $399.
Herein lies the benefit of competition that we were missing with AMD/ATI not putting much pressure on Nvidia for the past couple years. While Nvidia continued to advance technology, the only reason the GeForce 9800 GTX moved to $199 when it did was pressure from RV770. And I suspect that the GeForce GTX 260 is going to have to move down to $299 very quickly.
At the end of last year, AMD saw a hole in Nvidia’s product line and went after it with the Radeon HD 3850 and 3870. Fortunately for Nvidia, it had a flexible enough chip at the time that it could scale, target, and respond to the AMD threat with the GeForce 8800 GT. This time around, Nvidia is caught in the middle of a couple transitions: First, GT200 just started shipping and it will be a while before it can be cost-reduced, and second, Nvidia just began shipping 55nm GPUs. While it’s completely within Nvidia’s ability to respond to the threat posed by RV770, AMD’s timing has ensured that any response will be after the Radeon HD 4800 series has had a chance to do well in the market.
If you need a new graphics card and plan on spending either $199 or $299, the Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 are the best you can get.

Source : Computer Power User

Mac OS X taking over Windows?

2008 is looking to be the year of Mac OS X. According to industry analyst Net Applications, Mac OS X’s share of the global OS market has jumped roughly 32% from last year. In June 2008, Mac OS X powered 7.94% of the computers accessing the 40,000 Web sites that Net Applications monitors for research purposes. A year ago, Mac OS X was juicing just 6.03% of those sites. Microsoft, meanwhile, saw Vista’s usage share for June 2008 climb 8% from June 2007. Unfortunately, Windows overall usage share total for June fell 2.45% from 2007. So, Is Mac OS X really taking over Windwos' Vista? Along with the iPhone 3G release, Apple has seen a tremendous progress within a short period. Will it continue to progress? Well, we have to wait and watch, while Microsoft tries something different to catch up with Apple's progress.

Intel's Bioelectronic chip for Chemical Detection

Imagine if you could get a lab test in the doctor’s office and see the results before you left. The Intel Bioelectronic chip might one day make that possible. The chip was an experimental project that the world’s biggest chip maker showed off at its annual Research@Intel day. The chip resembles diagnostic chips that companies such as Affymetrix already make. But the chip doesn’t use optical technology to sort through various chemicals it comes into contact with. Rather, it uses silicon electrical sensors with something called a field effect device to detect DNA or other chemical traits more easily. Udi Virobnik, the Intel researcher behind it, said that such chips could be used as universal diagnostic machines, detecting a wide range of health risks, rather than just a single-test diagnosis, as is the case with chips already in use.

List of sites that pay for blogging

Earn from Blogging. This is one of the ways to earn some good money sitting in front of your computer. There are many ways to earn from blogging, but the best way is to find the advertiser and write the add for them. Where to find the advertiser? There are some sites that lets you to find advertiser and write a review on their product or site. Here is the list of sites that lets you earn from your blog.

Payperpost
This is the most popular site that lets bloggers and advertisers mutually benefit. Even the PR0 blogs do get fair amount of opportunities from this site. Apart from just advertisements, you can also earn by referrals. Payment is after 30 days of your post submission.
URL : www.payperpost.com

Socialspark
I should say that it is a sibling of payperpost. Both of them are the products of IZEA. Socialspark is like a social networking site where you can become friends with bloggers, advertisers etc. You can take up opportunities, blog sponsorships and sparks. Socialspark is a colorful site and you will get a minimum of $ 50 from their featured opportunities. Payment is sent to you after 30 days of post submission.
URL : www.socialspark.com

Sponsored Reviews
This is one of the coolest sites that pays bloggers to earn money. It is more of an auction procedure where you have to bid for the opportunities and wait for the advertisers to approve. They pay you only 65% of the amount you bid and the remaining 35% is the commission for the site. Its really a great site that pays you a lot if you have a PR3 or PR4 blog. PR0 blogs do get offers if you choose the right blog type. Payment is every 15 days.
URL : www.sponsoredreviews.com

Smorty
This is also a good site that pays big amounts if you have a blog with PR. You donot know when they will release the campaigns and so you have to keep an eye on the site for grabbing the opportunities. Other means of earning from the site is by Digxa mini store which is nothing but Pay Per Click method of earning. You can also increase traffic for your own blog with the post exchange method available in Smorty. The Smorty forums are the latest attraction of the site where bloggers and advertisers can share their views, suggestions, complaints etc with everyone. This site do have referral program which pays you for your lifetime.
URL : www.smorty.com

Buy Blog Reviews
This is a site that lets earn a lot of money from your blog. It offers the highest commission rate in blog advertising. It pays 70% to the blogger who write advertisement on their blog. The payment is every two weeks.
URL : www.buyblogreviews.com

Review Me
One of the top-paying blog website. They provide a sort of marketplace where advertisers can go and post their blog request. You can easily get $100 - $700 for just one post. They do take commission for their job and they take 50% of the amount. But, still you can see some useful amount from this site.
URL : www.reviewme.com

Blogvertise
This also a good site to get paid from blogging. Here you will be notified with an available opportunity to your mail. This opportunity will be related to your blog and so you don’t find it difficult to write about it. Sometimes they also offer grab bags which once in a while and you can grab one bag a day, if you are lucky enough to find one.
URL : www.blogvertise.com

Bloggerwave
This is one of newcomer to the business and they do pay a good amount but offers are rare to get in here. They will mail you the notification about new opportunities. They pay $10 for each post.
URL : www.bloggerwave.com

Apart from these sites, there are also other sites which pay you for blogging. I haven’t registered myself with them, so I can’t write about the reviews on them. I’ll just provide the links and you check them out.

Loud Launch
URL : www.loundlaunch.com

Blogitive
URL : www.blogitive.com

Payu2Blog
URL : www.payu2blog.com

Blogging Ads
URL : www.bloggingads.com

CreamAid
URL : www.creamaid.com

Bloggertizer
URL : www.bloggertizer.com

BlogToProfit
URL : www.blogtoprofit.com

Linky Love Army
URL : www.linkylovearmy.com

Pay me to blog about you
URL : www.paymetoblogaboutyou.com

DeWitt’s Media
URL : www.dewittsmedia.com

InblogAds
URL : www.inblogads.com

Buy a Blogger
URL : www.buyablogger.com

Linkworth
URL : www.linkworth.com

V7N Contextual Links
URL : www.contextual.v7n.com

So, there you are, a list of 21 sites that pays you for blogging. If there are any other sites that pays for blogging, please post it in the comments section, so that other fellow bloggers can benefit from it. Till then, Happy blogging!!

Most Useful shortcut keys for Microsoft Word

Though there are lots of shortcuts available in Microsoft Word, most people know onl a few. So, here are some more useful shortcut keys for Microsoft Word.
ALT + F10 – Maximize / Minimize the Word document.
ALT + F5 – Minimize the Word document.
CTRL + SHIFT + A or SHIFT + F3– Convert the selected text into Upper case / lower case.
SHIFT + F2 – Copy the selected text without placing it in the clipboard. Place the cursor where you want to paste the copied text and simply hit enter. Your text will be pasted.
CTRL + BACKSPACE – To delete the previous word.
CTRL + W or CTRL + F4 – Save and close the active document.
ALT + CTRL + S – Split horizontally the active window into two with the actual content in them.
CTRL + SHIFT + D - Double underline the selected text. Use the same keys to remove the underline.
F5 or CTLT + G – To go to a particular page, section of the document.
CTRL + H – To search and replace a word.
CTRL + F2 – Print Preview.
ALT F, I – To go to word options.
SHIFT + F5 – Brings your cursor to the point where you inserted the text lastly. This is a helpful tool when you open a saved document and want to continue from the point where you previously left.
CTRL + SHIFT + > or CTRL + ] - To increase the font size of the selected text.
CTRL + SHIFT + < - To decrease the font size of the selected text.
ALT + SHIFT + D – To insert present date at the location of the cursor.
ALT + SHIFT + T – To insert current time at the location of the cursor.
CTRL + SHIFT + H – To hide a selected text.
CTRL + SHIFT + W – If you use CTRL + U for underlining a selected set of words, blank spaces are also underlined. To avoid it and to underline only the words, this shortcut is used.
ALT + F11 – To switch to visual basic environment.
ALT V, H – To edit the header.
SHIFT + F7 – To view the thesaurus of the selected word.
I hope these shortcut keys will help you in saving your time and faster working in word.

Useful shortcut keys for Windows Media Player

When we are interestingly watching a movie in windows media player, a slight movement of the mouse cursor would make the menu bar appear on the screen thereby creating disturbances. So, to avoid such disturbances and also perform some useful tasks, you can make use of the shortcut keys available in windows media player. Here is a list of useful shortcut keys in windows media player.
ALT + 1 – 50:50 Zoom.
ALT + 2 - Zoom to 100 percent.
ALT +3 – Zoom to 200 percent.
ALT + ENTER – Full Screen.
ALT + F – Go to Windows media player File Menu.
ALT + T – Go to Tools menu.
ALT + P - Go to Play menu.
CTRL + 1 – Switch to default mode from skin mode.
CTRL + 2 – Switch to Skin mode from Default mode.
CTRL + B – Play the previous file.
CTRL + F – Play the next file.
CTRL + P – Play/Pause the current file.
CTRL + SHIFT + B – Rewind a file.
CTRL + SHIFT + F – Fast forward a file.
CTRL + SHIFT + S – Slowdown the track speed.
CTRL + SHIFT + G – Speedup the track speed.
CTRL + SHIFT + N - Play the track at normal speed.
F7 – Mute.
F8 - Reduce the volume.
F9 – Increase the volume.

Prepare your own aroma oil

My mother, being a beautician used to say that aroma treatments are one of the best treatments for your skin. For these aroma treatments, she uses aroma oils, which is the most important thing for the treatment. She prepares various types of aroma oils at home. Here is the general procedure for preparing the aroma oil at your home.

To begin, you need a collection of clean, sterilized bottles and jars. You can recycle jam jars, and glass bottles, but you need to wash them thoroughly first in a hot soapy water, then boil in a large saucepan for 20 minutes.

You will first need at least one standard cup of plant material. Fro your first attempts, se strongly aromatic plants like lavender, rose petals or rosemary. These will give you oil that can be put to many uses around the home.

The oil you use should be related to the purpose you have in mind – you can use baby oil or almond oil for cosmetics, sunflower or corn for general purpose and olive oil for cooking.

Place the plant material in your jar or bottle. If you are using a bottle, you can push stems of lavender or rosemary into the bottle.

Now pour the oil over the plant material, making sure the bottle or jar is full. As a rough rule of thumb, use tow cups of oil to one cup of plant material. You don’t need to warm the oil before you pour it in the bottle or jar.

Now cap the bottle or jar tightly and place it in a warm spot. Leave the oil to infuse for few days, or until the plant material begins to brown. Take the cap off and sniff – if it is not strong enough for you, strain the liquid, fill the jar with fresh plant material and pour the oil back over it. Leave for another few days. Keep doing this until the mixture is as aromatic you want.

Greatest show on Earth - Olympics 2008

Acrobats virtually walked on air. Choreography scored a perfect ten. And fireworks exploded in the sky like works of art. Ina breath taking spectacle that left a global television audience of 4 billion gasping, ancient china, determined to be a modern power, marched on to the global stage in the presence of a galaxy of world leaders.

The opening ceremony on Friday of the 29^th edition of the Modern Olympics was as much a celebration of the host nation’s ancient culture and civilization as an emphatic statement of its intent: China can do the impossible. And it almost did. Statistics can never explain the jaw dropping nature of the marathon four hour show that began exactly at 8pm (local time) on 08.08.08 at the Bird’s Nest. Chinese consider number eight to be lucky. Choreographed by master class Chinese director Zhang Yimou ( House of Flying Daggers ), the show had 29,000 rounds of fireworks. Overall, China has invested $43 billion for the 16 day sporting event attended by over 200 countries.

Top Ten eBook Websites

Here is a list of top ten ebook websites from which you can get loads and loads of ebooks.

1. Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org

2. Asiaing.com: http://www.asiaing.com
Over 2,000 free ebooks & free magazines. Most of them can be downloaded directly. I love the slogan: “Knowledge shared, power gained!.”

3. The Online Books Page: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
Listing over 25,000 free books on the Web. The site is hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Library.

4. PSU's Electronic Classics Site: http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/jimspdf.htm
Classic works of Literature.

5. PlanetPDF http://www.planetpdf.com/free_pdf_ebooks.asp?CurrentPage=1
Classics works of Literature.

6. University of California, eScholarship Edition: http://content.cdlib.org/escholarship/
The eScholarship Editions collection includes almost 2000 books from academic presses on a range of topics, including art, science, history, music, religion, and fiction.

7. University of Adelaide Library’s collection of Web books:
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/
The collection includes classic works of Literature, Philosophy, Science, and History.

8. AvaxHome.ru: http://www.avaxhome.ru
Some new ebooks. Rapidshare download links. Copyright is a problem.

9. The National Academies Press: http://www.nap.edu
Read more than 3,000 books online FREE!

10.You! Everyone has his own favorite ebook website. Maybe It’s already on the list. Maybe not. It doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that you love eBook.

Any more website? Please mention it in the comments section so that others can benifit from it.

Maintaining your mobile phone

Looking after your mobile helps to ensure it has a long and productive life. There are 8 easy maintenance tips to help you get the best out of your mobile phone. All of the points below should also apply to your battery, charger and any other accessories.

KEEP YOUR MOBILE: 

Charged: Ensure your battery is fully charged, and then completely run it down before recharging. Recharging too early causes your battery to run out of power more quickly. 

Secure: For security reasons, enable the PIN on your SIM Card and Phone-lock on your phone to avoid unauthorized used. These security checks will also be activated when the phone is power cycled. You can check with your carrier or the phone manual for the features and also for information on blocking your SIM card and phone IMEI number if the phone is stolen. For more information please see the Security Tips located on the AMTA Lost and Stolen website.

Protected: Make sure you use a keypad lock to lock your phone. Unplanned calls can cost a fortune and even though your phone may be in a safe place, such as in a bag, your phone will still get knocked around to a surprising degree. Rough treatment can damage electronic circuit boards so avoid dropping or unnecessarily shaking your phone.

Battery: Be safe with your batteries. Use only genuine batteries from your phone manufacturer and only buy from authorized dealers. Going for the cheap option of a counterfeit battery can be dangerous.

Clean: Don't use harsh detergents, cleaning solvents or harsh chemicals to clean your phone. Wipe only with a soft cloth. 

Covered: a protective cover will help repel dust and dirt, and prevent scratches. Make sure the cover you choose is of good quality. Low quality covers with no air pockets can damage you phone by creating humidity inside the cover.

Storing your phone: Always store your phone in a dry place. Avoid rain, high humidity and liquids. All of these may contain minerals that could corrode the electronic circuits.

At the right temperature: To ensure a long life, keep your phone in a stable temperature. Avoid exposing your phone to liquid and/or exposing your phone to extreme temperature change from hot to cold and vice versa. This might create condensation and damage the phone.

Top 5 computer problems

If you have a PC, then you have most likely suffered from computer problems. Most people have accepted that there PC will eventually crash due to a virus or some massive error. However this is a myth. Your PC is built to last more than a decade. However you must keep well tuned for it to make its third birthday. Nevertheless, most people would rather buy a shiny new PC rather than spend an hour trying to fix computer problems on there 2 year lap top or desktop. After another two year after their purchase lack of maintenance will cause their new PC to lose its performance speed. Whats next you guess, $3000 Windows Vista Ready PC. This is known as the consumer vicious cycle.

Why have does your computer have problems?

Well, the biggest problem that your computer has is its owner. More than 80% of computer problems stem from neglecting to perform simple maintenance task such as cleaning your registry, emptying your cache files and updating software regularly. If these task a perform diligently. You would be reading this article from a five year old machine running on Windows 98 operating system. So, lets take a look at the top five computer problems and how to avoid them.

1. Computer's performance has slowed.

This is the number one complaint from most users. There are several reason why this has occurred. However, most can attributed to lack of maintenance. Fragmented data, corrupted registry, spyware, and load of unnecessary programs and services running can all eat away at your PC speed and performance. Manage your programs and cleaning your registry would easily award you a 30% gain in performance speed. Check out The 4 ways to speed up my computer 

2. Lockup, freezes, and blue screens of death.

This is a another common computer problem. However, this particular issue is a bit more serious; therefore, it needs a few diagnostic steps. In most cases this problems are caused by spyware. To avoid this problem update your anti-spyware program daily. Having the most up to date signatures will help you avoid having a serious spyware problem. However, if you have concluded that your PC is spyware free. You should update your hardware drivers. The computer cannot communicate with various hardware components without an up to date driver. When it cannot find a driver, the CPU locks up. Also, increasing your virtual memory can also help to avoid freezes. Virtual Memory will allow to you get more use out your computer's RAM. Check the resource box for more info on the subject.

3. The computer spontaneously reboots or turn itself off.

This computer problem can be usually attributed to a hardware issue. Usually its the power supply is dying or in most cases a dirty or defective cooling fan. The computer trying to cool itself by automatically switching off. So, if you feel a bit of extra heat coming out the computer. Clean the fan and make sure it running properly. If your fan is functional, check your power supply. Also, you will be surprised how many people fail to make sure the cables are attached tightly. This be the cause of this particular computer problem

4. Strange noises and vibrations.

This is almost totally a hardware issue. You computer is made up of thousands of parts. Its not unheard of that one of them can become unhinged. Overheating can cause expansion of wires and melt some sensitive. High pitch noises such as squealing or whining sounds can be cause electronic components. Whatever the reason, you conduct a small investigation. Remove the case and run the computer to discover the origin of the computer problem. If its not a simple matter such as a loose wire or fan issue, it may be time to call a computer tech.

5. Your home page, default search engine, or web browser has changed itself.

This is also known as "high-jacking". Spyware has been installed on your computer via social networking or from email link. This action has allowed spyware to install a java script into your web browser. The spyware then sends a message to your browser to change your user settings. For example change your home page to another web page.

As you have discovered from reading the article, the most common computer problems can be handle quite easily by simple maintenance of your PC. Next time you are suffering from computer problems, take a few minutes to run some diagnostic test before rushing out to computer technical center claiming your PC is broken. What all you need to do was just make sure it was plugged in. 

Batmobile and Batbot of The Dark knight

Warner Bro’s Batman, the Dark Knight was released recently and it is a massive hit. Every scene in the movie was crafted to perfection. Its hard to see an two and half hour English movie and in the Dark Knight, each and every minute is thrilling and awesome. I liked each and every scene of the movie but I felt one scene was more awesome. It was the scene where the Batmobile gets repaired and batman pushes the eject button. I was expecting that the seat would eject like the one in warcrafts. But, the left side of the Batmobile turns into a Batbot and goes cutting the road. The designs of both batmobile and batbot are catchy and every lover of boys toys would love to earn one such beast. I thought those vehicles were graphics but I came to know that they are specially designed and manufactured for the movie. The Batmobile’s engine is a 5.7 liter Chevrolet V8 engine. The car weighs 5000 pounds and can reach the speed of 100 kmph in just 5 seconds. The batbot has the front and rear wheels of the batmobile as its wheels. The handle bar of the batbot looks weird like a war armor protecting the hands of the batman. Turning the shoulder is enough to steer the batbot. The engine of the batbot is placed inside the rear wheel itself. The awesome design of the batmobile and batbot has created a fan follow for itself. And I am one among them. I wish I had any one of these. Hmmm, I know need tons and tons of money for that. Right now, I have to assume my scooty as my batmobile and ride it!!!

Suzuki's superbike in India

Recently, Yamaha launched its superbike Yamaha R15 with 150cc in India. Bajaj Pulsar, TVS Apache, Honda Unicorn were the competitors in the 150cc market with pulsar leading in the front. But, one great manufacturer who has manufactured the dream bike of the youngsters, Hayabusa hasn’t set foot in the 150cc market. Now, Suzuki has decided to get into the competition as well. Rumors spread that Suzuki has planned to release its FXR 150 in India. But, that’s not true. Suzuki’s 150cc bike will not look like yamaha’s R15. Rather, it looks like more of pulsar. It is NOT FXR 150. Like all other 150cc bikes in the market, suzuki’s new bike has self start, alloy wheels, disc brakes etc. Pursuing Yamaha’s R15, Suzuki’s bike also has six speed gears. This bike will not have Fuel Injection engine. It is guessed that the power would be around 16bhp. This bike is expected to be released this October or November. And another treat waits for the bike loves and youngsters of India. Suzuki may release the dream bike, Hayabusa along with its new 150cc bike this October or November. So, guys get ready for some serious riding.

Fix Apple Boot Camp's Heating problem!!

hey guys for those of you who haven’t got a hand on boot camp, here is a brief explanation of the problem

The problem

When you install windows onto your apple system, the boot camp devs have somehow managed to 'forget' that there requires some interface with windows to the firmware so the cooling fans can be controlled. This leads to a state where after an hour or so especially of gameplay or cpu/gpu/hdd intensive operations the heat inside builds up to around 90 C this is when the firmware realizes that its hardware is going to DIE, the self defense mechanism kicks in and the fans turn to 'leaf-blower' mode. From the entire web searching and tinkering i did i came across a blog, that stated how to deal with this problem as it is a big issue!!

this is quite easily noted in mac books and pros!

The fix

There appears to be a bug in a program developed for OsX - the prg is smsFanControl (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23049). The bug is that if u change the settings for the fan in OSX and reboot (not shut down or anything else) the settings remain when u reboot into windows XP.

The program lets u set the min fan revs for each of the cooling fans, it has a default setting and a high-rpm mode (min 4000 rpm). So when you are going to windows for some hardware intensive programs change this setting!!!

And yea there is this other program i came across, but didnt give it a go till now!

Its called Input Re-mapper (http://www.olofsson.info/)

hope dis is useful!!

Anbe Sivam - A recap

Anbe Sivam - this movie would have brought tears in everyone who saw the film. It was such an touching story and it definitely made a impact in me. But, when the film was released, no one appreciated the theme of the movie. Here is one of the review which i read about the movie at the time of its release.

Kamalhassan’s intension to make a warm, funny and feel-good Anbe Sivam has ended up sadly as another predictable and corny film which is neither a comedy caper nor a class act. This time, his inspiration is from the Steve Martin- John Candy, road film Planes Trains& Automobiles. The story starts off with two men who are as different as chalk and cheese meeting each other and are forced by circumstances to travel from Bhuvaneshwar to Chennai together.

Nallasivam (Kamal) is a grotesque looking blabbermouth whom the savvy and handsome Anbarasu (Madhavan) meets at the Bhuvaneswar airport. Anbarasu is an ad filmmaker, on the way to Chennai to get married and when the flight gets cancelled due to bad weather, he is irritated and frustrated. But when he learns that he has to share a room for the night with Sivam who is crude, never short of advice and conversation, he has no other way but to tolerate him. Anbarasu goes through many crazy situations as his wallet getting stolen, train getting delayed due to derailment etc.
Kamalhassan has taken the role of John Candy in the film and Madhavan handles the savvy act of Steve Martin. The major problem with Anbe Sivam is that somewhere along the line, the script looses track as the superstar bug hits Kamal. In a flashback, the handsome Nallasivam is a left wing Marxist sympathiser, a mock street theatre activist, union leader and a painter (similar to the late Safdar Hashmi?). A dirty capitalist factory Muthalali’s (Naseer) only daughter Bala (Kiran) falls for him at their first meeting itself and he plans to elope with her. But unfortunately Sivam meets with a bus accident and his face is disfigured! And in the climax to cut a short story shorter the audience discover that Anbarasu’s bride is none other than Bala!

The story may seem simple, but the screenplay is awesome and the message that it sends is something people should think about. It doesn't matter whether god is real or not, but the love you show on your fellowmen would make them feel the god in you. This is what the movie conveys. If you happen to watch the movie, do not miss it and listen to the dialouges carefully. Most amazing movie i have ever seen.

PING command

It has been months since i posted a technical post. So, here is one about the PING command. I came across this command when my internet connection was lost. When i called the service agent, he came and tested the connection with this command. When i asked him about this command, he gave me these valuable information. The PING command is the basic network troubleshooting command. Ping shows the status of the other computer whether it is on the network or not. Let’s say you have three computers in your computer network computer A (IP Address, 10.10.10.1), computer B (IP address 10.10.10.2) and computer C (IP address 10.10.10.3). You are on computer A and you want to check the connectivity of the computer B then you will need to go the Start > Run > type CMD > DOS screen will appear. Now type there ping 10.10.10.2 if you get the reply this means the computer B is connected on the network and if you get the timed out message then there is some problem in the connectivity. This can be due to different reasons like check both the ends of the network cables in the computer and in the Router/Switch, check if the green LED light is blinking in the network card of the computer also check if any software application blocking the network communication such as firewall or antivirus etc.

A great murugan temple

I am a dedicated devotee of Lord Muruga. I have been to many murugan temples. To name a few, Vadapalani murugan temple, Arupadai veedu at besant nagar etc. Thougth there are many murugan temples in and out of the city, my favoutire is skanda-ashram temple.This one is very close to my house in Salem.They have strict temple timings. Its very peaceful there.Sitting in chennai, i miss going to that temple.Another one of mine favourite is Kumarigiri again in Salem.Its on a hill top. From there you could have a full view of salem city. The statue of god is enchanting and lovely.

Batman - The dark knight - My review

Here is my brief review of The Dark Knight, a real exceptional film of 2008, one of the best....and the movie would never have been complete if it wasn’t for Heath Ledger's gothic and gritty portrayal of The Joker

I don't know where to start my comments from, firstly I watched this movie twice on today's world-wide release. I have to tell you, it's that amazing, spectacular and simply the finest experience you will find of this year. Even the words I put up on this comment won't do justice until you go and watch it yourself.

The sequel sets off the Caped Crusader from the last movie as a man willing to wipe out corruption from Gotham City. But trouble brews ahead as Batman, Harvey Dent and Lt. Jim Gordon encounter a new criminal called the Joker. So with a new crime wave entering Gotham City, the three join forces to rid the town of this menace and chaos. Christian Bale reprises his role as The Dark Knight, the vigilante who uses his own force to rid the criminals of Gotham. His Bruce Wayne and Batman are so fantastically set, that you see a great deal of potential from him. Also coming back to the film Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman make a great supporting cast, especially Oldman who shines a cut above by the end. There is also the role of Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart, the White Knight of Gotham and a D.A. brave enough to bring all the criminals to justice without wearing a mask. All I can say for that is great character development by the end of the movie. Even Maggie Gyllenhaal brings a good job to this movie, her Rachel Dawes is characterized up a notch for this one.

But the one performance you would really have to see the movie for is the late Heath Ledger's interpretation of The Joker. It's stunning, gritty and just out of control. This is how the Joker should be from the comic books, a total mad man leaving behind destruction everywhere. If he gets a posthumous nomination at the Oscars, then he should be a winner. It will captivate you on every memorable scenes.

The action is also notched up, giving us superb sequences, especially a 10 minute action chase scene. Also something to talk about are the out of the box suspense scenes that make it more refreshing than any movie you have seen. The pacing is unnoticeable, you won't feel a minute wasted. The cinematography dark, smoldering and realistic, just wonder how they must have shot it with the IMAX cameras. It makes the city look alive giving a whole new realm to Gotham. The last note I would also want to hit is the music, the eerie score by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard is uncompromising, especially the Joker theme.

This is again another perfect film from Christopher Nolan, he surpasses himself growing with each new film, directing it on a challenging level only he can handle. Together the script is well charted by himself, his brother Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer.

I would tell you now to stop reading and go watch the film. It's the year's best, hats off and a thumbs up to Ledger's sadistic act, it's a dark art masterpiece.

How to reduce heartburn

Next time you sit for dinner, avoid having acidic foods, such as grape fruit, oranges, tomatoes and vinegar. Spicy foods often lead to heart burn. You may love the ‘chaat’, you make sure that you cut down pepper and chilies. Don’t hit the bed immediately after dinner. Always wait for tow to three hours. It gives your stomach enough time to digest the food. Try and opt for lean meats and non fatty food. You mat love those French fries and cheese filled burgers, but they can easily lead to heartburn. Watch what you drink. Avoid drinking alcohol and carbonated drinks. Yes, size does matte. Have smaller meals and keep the heartburn at bay. Eat slow and steady. Those who have the habit of eating fast tend to be a a higher risk of heart burn. Avoid tight clothes as much as possible. Tight belts, trousers and waistbands press on your stomach and hence can lead to heartburn. Stress can also lead to heartburn. Strive for a less stressful life. Try to keep your weight under control. Excessive weight is also a major cause of heartburn. Are you popping antacids more than once a week? It may eventually backfire and increase the frequency of heartburn. Eventually, you may need a far more potent treatment to deal with heartburn. Chewing gum in the night can increase acid reflux and heartburn symptoms. So, avoid it.

One great tour

this is during my b.e days. 8 of us started from mysore to nagarahole and further iruppu falls on 4 bikes. mid way (border of nagarahole forest area) in no man's land, 1 bike got punctured so badly tat it needed a new tube. Forget about new tube, we cudn't even get smell a puncture shop anywhere in 10 kms. radius. We spent an hour under a tree by finishing few ciggies and met a near by villager. he took us to his village which was around 2 kms. from that spot. Since it was lunch time, the house members offered us have our lunch there. We had one of the best lunches served ever. We didn't want to return back to mysore. So, we parked the punctured bike at that house and 8 of us travelled on 3 bikes to nagarahole and then further to iruppu falls. Since we had very very poor budget and also we had to save Rs.200 for the tube, we realy had a tough time in searching a small budget hotel. We couldn't find any for our budget, so we decided to have a free stay. And we found our friendly traveller, KSRTC bus parked in the bus stand and scheduled to leave the next morning from iruppu. We negotiated with driver and conductor and finally slept on the bus. we all got up in the wee hours to finish all our nature calls under mother nature :-). Since we saved on our accommodation, we had good money to spend on breakfast :-). We then returned back by picking up the bike and getting it a new tube on the way back to mysore.

By the way, we saw good amount of wild animals (bisons, elephants and deers) and had a good shower in iruppu falls among all the other adventures

Sauna

My first experience was in a club where there was a 20-25 year old male masseur. It was cold November morning and I was alone so went to get a massage. That was my first time and the man asked me to remove my clothes and I removed only the shirt he laughed and hastily removed my pants and underwear as well. Man, I was shy there were people passing and they could see me as I was near the poolside. I was totally nude in the sweet sun of the November morning and soon I became normal to the nudity. The masseur even massaged my ass and groin IMAGINE! After that I went to the sauna room and I decided to throw off my towel and again I lay on the wooden planks in nude. Then some 18-20 year old guys came in they were 5. First of all they giggled then one of them slowly removed his underwear and then another and another. Man, I was feeling I am on cloud nine being naturist and I even walked around that way in the club in front of 10-15 guys. Now when I reflect back that day it makes me say-"oh my god what did I do"

Sweetest of all apples

Recently I was in Hartola, a Himalayan village close to Rambagh in Nainital district of Uttaranchal. The event was the annual editorial meeting of my publication and all of my journalist colleagues in Tehelka were present. The village was very beautiful and we were staying in tents erected in an apple orchard. We were there for about five days and eating apples five time a day turned the biggest `extra curricular' activity.(The journey to Hartola was very hectic and at first I had to board a Delhi bound flight from Trivandrum. A night train (Ranikhet Express) took my team from Old Delhi station to Kathgodam in Uttaranchal. From there it was a four hour long bus journey through the steep hills).
On the concluding day, I had asked the owner of apple orchard to arrange a few fine variety apples to take home. He immediately agreed. while boarding the return bus, he told me that an apple container was already loaded on top of the bus for my exclusive use. Only when the bus reached Kathgodam Railway Station, I realised that the container has over 35 kg apple. Then I hired a porter to take it out of the bus and to load in inside the train compartment. The wooden container supported by coir turned a little bit embarrassment to me as most of the fellow travellers were travelling like business executives. In Old Delhi station, I had hired yet another porter to load it in a taxi. On reaching my lodge in GK-2 of South Delhi, I had no option other than spending my own energy to take it into my room. Even in the hotel reception, I felt em brassed over the rough appearance of the apple container. The very next day, I took another taxi and loaded it to reach the domestic airport. At the airport, those who at the security check demanded Rs 100 per kg as freight charge. That Means Rs 3,500 for the container. Then what would be the price of 1 kg apple?There were two options in front. first was to pay the hefty some and ensure the reach my apple bag in Trivandrum. The other one is not paying anything and distributing it among the flight staff and passengers around. No question of paying money. Finally, somehow, the flight crew agreed to transport the apple container without any fee. They were in consideration of my journalist status and also of the efforts I had put in to take the apples from hartola. At last, the apple reached Trivandrum airport. While all passengers were moving out with trolley bags and suit cases, I was the sole exception with such an idiotic wooden container supported by coir. Anyway, those apples were sweeter than any of the imported apples I had tasted before and after the incident.