2009 Onwards

2009 Onwards is alive again

2009-09-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

I know this blog fizzled out almost as soon as it started but now it's back and here to stay!!
Check soon for more enriched content

The Social Networking Revolution

2009-02-05T01:47:00.000-08:00

In this article, for the sake of convenience the author refers to all social networking sites as Facebook.

As Facebook just celebrated its 5th year, i'm celebrating my 5th post on Social Networking. Facebook which is currently the largest social networking site currently has about 150 million active users and more than 850 million photos are uploaaded to the site every month. The question arises, why is social networking so popular? And how long will the fad last?

Many experts in this field have raised the point about "Facebook Fatigue", where social networking starts tedious and no longer remains a leisure time activity for the users. This theory is though directly contradicted by the numbers of users signing up. Though I like to attribute this raise in numbers with raise in popularity of social networking by reminding people of how Brazil, India and many smaller countries have just joined the party; so atleast in these countries the fad is there to last. Social Networking seems to grow in popularity because of the confluence of services it offers, from multimedia sharing to simply commnication coupled with flash games. Making the one-stop portal an instant recipe for success.

My Verdict: "Facebook Fatigue" is something that cannot be ignored, but we seem to forget how when grow bored, Facebook gets better: it starts to offer something new. Example: A simple Facebook live messenger can turns most of todays IM services for bankrupcy. So, I look forward to see Facebook beats the "Facebook Fatigue". Though it not much of a suprise, after all they do hire MIT, Stanford and Berkely nerds.

Obama: The Messiah?

2009-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

(Image Coutesy: TIME)

Is Obama really a Messiah? I hear America wants him to help them secure the FIFA World Cup bid, while people in the sub-continent expect him foster peace. But in my opinion he's not very different from Former President Bush. Everyone seems to forget how when in 2002 when the American economy was strained: NASDAQ down about 50%, how the Bush government pushed the economy to levels of unpreceedented trade. In his first tenure Mr. Bush did everything right to get elected once again. People blame his Iraq Invasion saying no biological weapons were eventually found, but would you rather we found bio-weapons. Every President will act on the advise of his intelligence, so if anyone is to be blamed it might well be the CIA.

In his last days in office, Mr. Bush proposed a bailout package duly rejected by the Democrats. As Obama comes to power he proposes another bailout hailed as a great solution. Obama within his first 12 hours stopped trials at Guatanamo, but just today he allowed to be resumed. He promised to close down to Guatanamo, but as soon as he comes to power he says it will not be possible in the first 100 days.

I am not in anyway undermining President Obama's ability, but rather suggesting any one in his place would have done almost the same. Both McCain and Obama vouched for nearly the same, but the promise people put in Obama is more than he can deliver.

My Verdict: Obama as a Messiah? Too early to rule that out, but I feel the Grammy winner for best speaker has taken the world by storm with his oratory skills and not leadership(yet to put to the test). President Obama promised to help Mainstreet over highly-paid executives at Wallstreet, but we still see bailout money given to companies used in companies used in paying Executive bonuses. Lets wait and watch, President Obama has the makings of a messiah in him but as of now he's just the 44th President of the United States

Megapixel Myth

2009-02-04T02:30:00.000-08:00

(Image Coutesy: SONY)

Post 2000, we all quantum have seen leaps in megapixel 1.3mp, 2mp, 3.2mp, 5mp......10mp. But what is this actually, how significantly is 10mp better 5mp?

For an average 4" X 6" print a resolution of 800x600 is considered good enough, with 6mp you can print a perfectly clear 30cm print, now when was the last time you actually did that? Apart from that the bigger scam is that of digital interpolation. Now what exactly is digital interpolation..... Interpolation put simply means resizing of the pixel grid. Naturally when interpolation occurs there is loss in quality. So, the next time you see a 10mp camera it might only a 5mp sensor but would digitally interpolated to 10mp. (I guess that uncovers the cheap chinese make scams in Digital Cameras.)

For further reading on interpolation, head over to: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-interpolation.htm

Now that we got the megapixel myth busted theres one more very important thing to look at in Cameras: The image sensors. Currently,CCD (charge-coupled device) and CMOS (complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor) are the most widely used. Apart from interpolation, CMOS sensors are another reason digital cameras have become cheaper. CMOS sensors can be manufactured on assembly line similar to microprocessors unlike CCD sensors which far more complicated to manufacture. CCD sensors on the other hand are less susceptible to noise(disturbance) making them superior. So, I won't be a bad idea to look out for CCD over CMOS cameras. But like all things there is a down CCD sensors consumes about 100 times more power than CMOS.

For further reading on CCD vs CMOS, head over to: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question362.htm

My Verdict: When you need to buy a point and shoot camera(what most of you use, no complicated modes; just point and shoot) don't swear by megapixels. 9 cases out of 10, a 10mp camera is better than 5mp camera; but the key factor is the other 1 time. Also, don't swear by sensors too. CMOS sensors have the ability to match CCD to an extent that doesn't matter in point and shoot photography. Lastly, China can make everything cheap at the same worse. They make extremely poor quality CCD sensors, but cheaper than the current CMOS. So, when it comes to buying a point and shoot camera stick to known brands like Nikon Coolpix or Sony Cybershot

Wikipedia: To Trust or not to Trust

2009-02-03T03:54:00.000-08:00

When Wikipedia started gaining in popularity, so did its diversion from actual content. Its Wiki style management means user can edit its content; this remains to be Wikipedia biggest boon and bane. Among the anonymous edits to Wikipedia, it was discovered that Republicans changed the occupation of Iraq to its liberation. While this might not affect you, but other information might: Information you use in your presentations, assignments, claims, etc might cause a hint of bother.

So that that leaves one in two minds about Wikipedia, to trust or not to trust.

My Verdict: Mostly changes on Wikipedia are politically motivated, so don't trust articles that can be politically linked. For homework and assignments one can use Wikipedia, especially for technical topics like science and technolgy. And lastly, don't ever use information from articles that state citation needed.

In conclusion,I trust Wikipedia[Citation needed]

Blackle

2009-02-03T03:40:00.000-08:00

url: http://blackle.com/

Blackle is an initiative of Heap Media that claims to have help saved 1,064,808.737 Watt hours (As of publishing time) of energy. Blackle prophesizes the concept that a black pixel is a turned off pixel and hence consumes less energy. Keeping this concept in mind, Blackle is a Google Custom Search Engine that appeals to people to change their homepage to Blackle over Google.

Research has shown that CRT Monitors do consume about 15 watts less with a black screen, but only 25% of the worlds monitor are CRT. Blackle is an innovative concept but Google refutes their claim, so now arises the question who to trust?

My Verdict: Use Blackle if you have a CRT monitor, stick to Google if you have an LCD monitor

More info at http://blackle.com/about/