FOSSMeet@NITC 2008

So I am finally blogging again. The occasion is th end of fossmeet 08. I have been very busy this semester with nanotech and foss. But I have enjoyed being a part of the team which worked day and night to make these two events a great success.
I will stop it here, the valedictory function has just started.

A new look

Finally my blog gets a new look....the post is meant only for that...
I am too busy with the Nanotechnology Workshop.....
Hope to start regular posting from March....

Apple and Google

These two are the giants of the modern era. One keeps on developing exciting technologies on the web and the other is coming up with great hardwares and the required softwares for the same. And in some cases Google Maps on iPhone ...they have worked together and produced great results....

A for Apple, /\|0|0!3
The first time I came across this company was when I was going through Guiness Book of World Records। After that the I came across the greatest invention that I have witnessed....iPod..... It has redefined music and has conquered the imagination of old and young alike. After iPod was a hit Apple came out with a "revolutionary phone" the iPhone. It was then followed by the MAC OS X Leopard. The fantastic thing about this OS was the "Time Machine". And the latest one they have is the "MacBook Air" which has caught my imagination. Except for the iPod I haven't used any of the other products. The other day I found a blog mentioning top 10 failures of Apple. It was interesting to go through the list which included products I had never heard of. But somehow I feel all the products were not failures. Some may be but I strongly feel many of those were developed earlier in time. Steve Jobs is one person who continues to influence me. I like the speech he gave at Stanford University....whenever I am in a dilemma I think of his interview and try to implement his advices. Hats off to Steve and his creative, innovative, energetic and highly talented team at Apple.....!!!!

Go for Google, 9009|3
Whenever you say search the first name that occurs to any one's mind is Google. It is so common to google anything and everything that is to be searched that I am waiting for the logical Google {or the virtual Google on the net} to tun into real world search engine.
But Google has not confined itself to search it has widened to domains that I never imagined including this one the Blogger. There is calendar, docs, videos, reader and much more. I find each of these very interesting and extremely useful. The power of internet, I feel is really unleashed by Google and its wide range of Applications.
A few days back Anand and I were discussing about the greatest Ph D thesis. He being a total tronix guy was completely in favor of Shanon, DSP related. I then thought for a moment and my reply was the best Ph D thesis must be Google. However the Google guys, Larry Page and Serge Brian have yet not received their Ph D degrees, as far as I know। So I could not argue any further. But Google is definitely the best business from any Ph D thesis that I know. Great work guys and I'll keep thanking you.....!!!!!!!!!!


This blog does not intend to advertise either of the companies. It is just an act of appreciation from my side.

The Mysore Trip....

Had a great tour to Mysore and Coorg.....gr8 work by Deepak, Gopal, Gregory and others.
We left college on Friday at about 9:30-10:00 . The masti we had in bus was comparable just to nothing. Although there were some times when I felt bored but once I got into the groove everything was rocking. We reached Mysore at 5:30 am or so. After which we had an hour to rest. However we left for Chamundi Hills only at 8:00am.
Saturday was meant for Mysore. We visited Chamundi temple, Mysore Palace, Shrirangapatnam and the beautiful Vrindavan Gardens. The food was a problem but it kind of compensates for the enjoyment we had during the entire day. After a long day we went to our rooms tired but full of enthusiasm. We had to be ready early the next day so that we could visit the places in coorg. However we left an hour or so late. After breakfast we visited CCD and were having good time there.
The journey from Mysore to Coorg was filled with laughter and taunts for each other. It was a memorable journey. In Coorg we visited the Namdroling Monastrey {also called as the Golden Temple}, the forest which was supposed to have boating and elephant ride. But we managed neither. The bus then turned towards the Waterfall which had very little water. Finally we left Coorg at about 6:00 in the evening. On our return journey we had the game of Truth & Dare which was very exciting especially to pull peoples' legs.
We reached the campus at 12:30 am. Completely exhausted we somehow managed to attend the classes on Monday.
The trip photos will be put up soon.............the problem is we have a collection of 4 GB!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 3-day 20Twenty.....

The title sounds funny....that was actually my 1st midsems for this sem. Got over in 3days...2papers per day....20 mks each..and I realized one thing this sem is not only hectic but also requires much more time for studues esp. DSA and DSP
Tonite we{S-6 EEE} will b leaving for 2 day trip to Mysore and Coorg. I was actually planning for some industrial visit but lets follow the herd...So will be off frm blogging.
The Nanotech Workshop and Saptarishi would keep Feb busy. Also the mini project needs much more devotion. I have now reserved 3 hrs/week for mini pro. Ragam and FOSS Meet would follow in March. So a completely packed sem..dont know how many times I'll say that..
I attended a talk on Characteristics of Semiconductor Technology by Shri. Shripad Karmalkar today. It was very informative. Also it kind of opened my eyes to what Scientist/Engineer/Inventor actually do. As presented in the talk
A Scientist by nature is very curious. He can relate seemingly unrelated phenomenon. He is not driven by demands of his peers. An engineer is someone who has to apply the scientific phenomenon to everyday use. An inventor is one who should study the demands of the people and provide solutions for them. It is not necessary for him to have a thorough understanding of the pricnciples he ahs to apply. But a person can be all of these....There is no second number in this. Every one is equally important, everyone has equal dignity.
That's all Folks

The hectic semester

I could not blog {except for the Steve Jobs' quotes through Google Docs} for 10 days...
The main culprit being a semester full of classes and labs{though machines lab will end by Feb first week}
However I have decided to stop complaining and start working on my plans for coming year.
Yesterday Gaurav, Abhijit, Harsh, Sunil and me had a sort of advisory presentation to first years {EEE guys}, we called it Orientation but it was in no sense academic. It was a sort of planner for those guys for their next three years in NITC. I think it was a great success. It was combined effort of EEA 2nd year execs and the 3rd year execs.
Moving on I am currently trying for various summer research programs. I have finally decided its research that I want. So accordingly I have some project ideas and trying to figure out more.
The Sydney Test would be regarded next to the Eng-Pak match which was awarded to England { I dont remember the exact date and venue}. But India must work harder for the coming matches and I feel it can still save the series.
I feel my blog sometimes becomes just a collection of my daily chores.... no plannning just random thoughts and then abrupt ending. I started off with an official blog but have not posted since December 7th. I will certainly post my updates and collection on electrical engineering in future posts there........so trical guys watch out that corner.

Steve Jobs in an iterniew:
"And, you know, one of the things I did when I got back to Apple 10 years ago was I gave the museum to Stanford and all the papers and all the old machines and kind of cleared out the cobwebs and said, let's stop looking backwards here. It's all about what happens tomorrow. Because you can't look back and say, well, gosh, you know, I wish I hadn't have gotten fired, I wish I was there, I wish this, I wish that. It doesn't matter. And so let's go invent tomorrow rather than worrying about what happened yesterday."

Steve Jobs at Stanford

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary

on the eve of new year......

Finally I have time to do some bla bla. Another year ends and with it I have to celebrate my third new year outside Pune. Most of you guys will be enjoying your holidays but I have classes tomorrow.
The past three years have passed like 3 months. I remenber my nervousness when I first came to Calicut. The only thing I knew about this place before was the great Vasco da Gama had landed here some 4 centuries back. But now the number of days left in the college are lesser than those that flew by.
Nothing more to write on the last day of the year which I would like to call "The Blogger Year".
It was in FOSS '07 that Kiruba motivated me and others in our college with his outstanding session on blogging.
I hope to continue blogging and exploring the web as I did in 2007.
Bye Bye 2007....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and a warm welcome for 2008!!!!!!!!!!!

Growing cities

I am still in Pune and the climate here is excellent for holidaying. I keep thinking how my friends here are managing to study for their exams.
As the title suggests this post would talk about urbanization.....
Pune has seen many developmental activity recently. The widening of the old Mumbai-Pune highway has resulted in cutting of trees on the highway. Though I feel this highway has more tees than others that I have seen. But still I could feel something missing.
Another problem due to lots of construction work has been the rising amount of dust in the surrounding. I have to clean my laptop almost daily. That is the reason I dont like traveling and roaming around the city. Also the chances of accidents tend to increase due to the ongoing construction work. The barricades used are placed in such a way as to complicate driving on road.
One cannot blame the system alone, System is formed by the components and when each component is working efficiently only then the system stability is assured. We, Indians have a tendency to blame the system all the time. Right from a school student to retired person everyone finds fault in the people around them. It is high time we realize the importance of working in unison and help ourselves. That way we will not only have a happy society but also empower ourselves and become better individuals.
I hope not making this post a bore... It is as important as India reaching 10% GDP growth.
One should chase material goals, but not at the cost of losing one's peace of mind..
I would end here with one of my favourite quotes:

"The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life." -- Albert Einstein

Results are out

Yesterday I was reading a blog regarding not to worry about GPAs....So I decided not to worry but then today being the D-day it was in the back of my mind all the time...
Actually the blog meant not worry about the GPA during your semester time....just keep on learning new things. dont be under the stress of scoring a particular Grade. and I am happy I accomplished that thing. Although I am not happy with grade in Power Systems and you might be aware from my previous posts how disappointed I have been from the teacher.
I hope Power Systems 2 wont be that bad....
I have created another blog in Silicon India. That will be my official blog......meaning it will deal with acads and related stuff...so any doubts please post it there...i dont mind it here though!!!

Relaxed for a while

Weather in Pune is really getting chilly especially at night, but I am enjoying it to the fullest. Have not really started with the what I had planned for the vacations except watching Heroes. The series is awesome and must watch for everyone.
Tried blogging from mobile for the first time.
I was thinking on various ideas for the paper presentation contest by IEEE SB. I've zeroed on one, but have not started any solid work on it. It is basically use of power lines for internet purposes....I have to read some previous papers on this topic before proceeding further.
Another important task is to visit a substation nearby and gain some practical knowledge in power systems. Power systems course ruined by uknowwho . I told my friends to comment on her in my blog. Hope they comment anonymously.
Also have to develop my googlepage
Hope to finish that thing too during this vacation
Not getting any more thoughts to share and I being at home cannot try nightouts.

Mblog

I am currently in Pune. I managed to skip blogging for 2 weeks. End sems didnt work out as planned. Neways its over and its time to analyze the past 4 mths & plan for future.
This is the first time i am blogging frm mobile. It's gr8 but would have been awesome with a qwerty keypad.
Guys if u r reading my blogs plz comment. I will stop here...my fingers are aching!!!

Crouching End Sems

So another end sem is nearing ...the 5th one and 3 more to go!!!!
This semester has been very productive for me if I look at it from the web point of view....I have become a more addicted {or whatever you may say} blogger.........I have read more blogs than my class notes/books......I have created my LinkedIn Profile and just finished creating a Technorati Profile as well.
Now I've to study for the end sems so that I can achieve my set SGPA for this semester {I would rather not disclose the target} My mini project group (Amit and Abhijit) is still clueless on our mini project idea. The problem is we have been thinking on creating something indigenous of sorts. When we met Suresh Kumar Sir we were brought downto earth. We've to come up with something very interesting at the same time not very complicated.
I'll write interesting stuff within a couple of weeks.....I would return only after my end semester
Hope not to return tomorrow and write another post with the same expectation at end!!!!!!!
EEA and IEEE SB have launched their respective websites and thats great news

Test Post

just for claiming my blog on technorati
Technorati Profile

E-waste and related problems-What I understood

I came across an article on e-waste during the summer vacation of 2006. I was interested in it but procrastinated search on the same. For the Environmental Studies we had to choose a topic for our semester project and my obvious choice was e-waste management.
While working on the project I came to know the various laws enacted by various governments regarding e-waste disposal. There is no one standard definition for e-waste. Every government/organization has developed its own definitions. However there are not many differences in these definitions.
Many of the leaders in Electronic equipment manufacturing like HP, Dell, IBM have given due importance to this issue. I also came across firms which have their business models based on e-waste disposal like ReCellular and E-Parisaraa.
I also got to know the EU directives on WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) and RoHS (restriction of hazardous substances). The problems that may arise from improper e-waste disposal are secondary to none. Thus the issue of e-waste management must be dealt with utmost priority on a global scale.
I think the best way to fight such global issues is by creating awareness among the masses.
Sooner I will upload the presentation of the project on my blog.
People interested in knowing more about the project may mail me at harshaddesai05@gmail.com

I watched a video on the new MAC OS X-Leopard....and its simply amazing. I really liked the "Time Machine" that they have developed for backup.
You might be seeing a new widget on my blog. Well I have joined LinkedIn and wanted to promote my profile.

Happy Diwali !!!!

So its my third diwali away from home......I always remember the diwali back home!!!!
Anyways when the globe is shrinking, you can have very few reasons to stay away from your family. But you can still be connected with your loved ones through internet which I feel is the best invention/discovery to happen for mankind.
Meanwhile we (Abhijit, Amit and me) have not finalised a mini project. The search is still on...got somw ideas though but have to bring it to earth. The environmental studies project is working on well. However the classes conducted where really boring it should have been more practical concentrating on the solutions rather than problems. Well I can't direct the classes.
Another end semester is closing on and once again it will be a week long night-out sessions.
I am trying to learn French through an audio lecture series and it is really very good. Hope to have some posts in French as well{a few sentences}
Have to sleep early....have to visit Temple tomorrow {9th Nov} early morning.


PS: If people do visit my blog and find something to share on any idea please feel free to do so.
I would be more than happy to get suggestions and/or critics from my readers.

....after a pause...

Its been a long time off line. There are a couple of reasons for that....We were exhausted of gprs and I had a very busy academic schedule.

Talking about the academics Power Systems 1 has been a real bore subject the only reason being the teacher. I cant understand the logic why a teacher needs to dictate some shit to 3rd years. The most funny part is people keep on scratching the shit in their books (except some like me who are too lazy). The tragedy doesn't end here.....we also have to present so called seminars and submit write-ups(of course the only difference between the 70 odd write-ups will be the font)

GOD save me!!!!!

Moving to another tragedy in Sem 5.....the electronics lab.....finished the lab xam today and every1 was a relieved soul........This sem seems to be hardest not in theory or exams but only in handling the teachers.

Anyways life moves on................other stories..

It was exciting when SENSEX touched 20k, although it couldn't sustain the high levels.

Reading some blogs about entrepreneurship a couple of business ideas have clicked in my head.

The net seems a problem --C hostel has no net connection and the gprs is very slow and costly. Even now I have to ping…... the computer is not receiving a single byte hope I am able to put the post online at 12:57 AM!!!!!!!

Posted 1 day late!!!!!!

Why have a blog? Part 2

So after a break I continue the 2nd part of why have a blog
In the part 1 I generalized the blogs around the world into 3 types .
A personal or self-advertising blog is always useful to put the blogger on the webosphere (blogosphere or whatever u like). Such blogs can be a great network building platforms{if you develop a wide reader base} and the present era thrives on networking. I had read in a blog that many recruiters insist on maintenance of active blogs. Thus maintaining a personal blog will always help you to remain in touch with people having similar interests as yours.
The next type of blog is a Corporate blog. Realizing the power of blogs many corporate maintain a blog. Such blogs discuss the prospective products of the company thus developing a pre-advertizing platform. It also helps in addressing the problems of the customers esp for software products.
Basically any blog is driven by Expressions, Interests and the Intellect. I feel my blog is expressive and some what driven by intellect because I do like Philosophy although I have not mentioned it directly in any of my posts.

The second sessionals are now over and have to get tickets for going home. The countdown has begun....

Its Time to ACT!!!!!!

I would continue my part 2 of why to blog in later posts (after my exams)
Well I got to see this Blog Action Day.....and I wanted to be a part of it. I had read about such campaigns previously , now its time to contribute.....
The topic they have chosen is Environment and well it is the greatest threat (i mean the the climate change and global warming) for humankind in the next century.
Although this topic is still debated all round the world, we have to accept the changes in Environment are not natural. The effect on environment may not be felt in short span of time. It is a complex process and slowly but certainly the pollution and other human initiated impacts on environment are affecting the mother Earth.
It is a known fact that coal is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels. And more than 50% of electricity comes from thermal power plants using coal as the primary fuel. We can reduce the CO2 emissions by efficient use of electricity.
Being an Electrical Engineering student I would suggest a 3-point Energy Saving Scheme :

1. Use CFL......don't worry about initial costs you can negate those by lower electricity bills.....a village in India was able to lower its daily load (current) demand to half by use of CFL
2. Make maximum possible use of natural light and natural cooling.
3. Use equipments rated as efficient by a proper authority like BEE in India.

People ask me why should we worry about next 100 years when none of us will be here. My answer to this is you enjoy the fruits of trees planted by your grandparents then it is your moral and social responsibility to ensure that life sustains on planet Earth.

Some data mentioned above needs to be validated. I have obtained it from numerous sources.

Finally I would say "Its not the time to think....its the time to ACT"

Why have a Blog?-Numero uno

I am trying to write my blog in parts. This is the part one and also includes something related to my life. This blog is dedicated to all wanna-be bloggers.
MY VIEWS
I think I did mention about this in my previous posts. So whats new this time around..
Well I went through many more blogs and a couple of articles in CHIP magazine.
And I figured 3 wide categories of blogs:
1. A philanthropist's blog--a blog dedicated to man kind, it includes all environmentalist, educators, advisers and the like.
2. A blog which advertizes the blogger and in which he describes his daily activities--mine is in this category!!!!!
3. A corporate blog-- blog maintained by corporate to contact with the customers and discuss their new products.
In this blog I will mention about the first kind and related topics
There are many non-profit organizations conducting various blogging events in which people contribute by way of their experiences, imagination and views. Such events promote problems faced by mankind which includes cancer, AIDS, poverty, illiteracy.
Global Warming and Climate Change will be the most challenging problem. I say this because it would effect every one- the rich and the poor, the Indains and the Chinese, literate and ill-literate. Blog Action Day(15th Oct) will be such a campaign in which people are encouraged to write about Environment. I did register to the site!!! lets see what I manage to write..Another such event was conducted by some mall in Chennai in which bloggers had to write about Cancer. It was back in 2005/6 though.....
MY LIFE: I am happy that my blog addiction (to whatever small extent) has made some of my relatives and friends to have a blog.
Meanwhile my plans of Google ad-sense are held in abeyance. Currently I am more than satisfied without the materialistic (read money) pleasures of my blog.