compuneo

I have been in Germany during the past six months or so, several times in Germany (on business visits). Most of the times, the taxi drivers I encounter are from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and few other countries of that geographic region. Certainly, by my colour of skin, they feel that, I am an Indian atleast south Asian. On telling them that, I'm fron India, the next reaction I encounter is, aaah.. Movies. Most of them have been great fans of Indian movies. This is partly the reason that, those countries do not have many movies made indigenously. So, they get to see the movies made in India. Slowly, I started to contemplate my past encounteres. Some of my friends went to Egypt on a small tour. Same situation there as well. The first thing the local Egyptians recall when they were told that my friends were from India, Amitabh Bachhan. So, is the case with Europe (principally industrially developed nations). They have been watching so many movies from Hollywood. I have als...

So, what makes this american affirmation, come into existence. For the past few days, I have been reading quite a bit on America [you can call it random reading, because I follow the hyperlinks ;-)]. I used to feel that, there must have been a sensible reason on why this German word became so common in America. Today, I have discovered that, that 60 million Americans (according to 2000 US census), have German ancestry.

This is not 17th or 18th century where Europeans wanted to grab the treasures from East. Young Americans finding it more appealing and challenging for their career. As this article states, several Americans esp from Texas are going to India in the light of rapid economic development in India. This has really made me to think again? Do all Indians and Americans agree with this? I am really optimistic on the progress of India. India along with China are going to be the economic superpowers of 21st century. Either we can wait and see whats going to happen or be a part of this revolution. The good part of the article is it does state some of the radical changes an American would face.. whether it be bargaining with a local auto-driver or how difficult is to find a date.

The layout engines are the rendering engines (or the core) of most of the web browsers we have been using. Wikipedia has an excellent article on the Layout Engines I have discovered that, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_layout_engines#Operating_system_support">Mac OS X has more compatible rendering engines than any other OS (amongst Windows, Mac OS X & 9, Linux, BSD, Unix). The article has very informative comparison of these layout engines.

Scientists in US have proved water can flow upstream without any external force over metal sheets scored with a carefully designed array of grooves. They've lot more expectations out of this to drive coolants through overheating computer microchips. Apparently, it also mentions that the effect was described in 18th century by a German scients Johann Gottlob Leidenfrost. More at BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Scientists make water run uphill

One of my dreams, is coming true. I have been thinking for a long time, whether any of the governments/organisations know what all the pipes are under-ground. British govt. is attempting to map all of the pipes in 3D, in UK. The project is funded with a 2.2 million pounds. BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Pipe network to be mapped in 3D Its very obvious to see, how beneficial it would be to have such a system in place. I wonder, when would Indian folks take these footsteps. I'm recalling one of the advertisements show by Times of India.

One culture has been a great fascination for me : Japanese. Whether it be their technological expertise, or their ability to excel in almost any manufacturing practice in which they're part of. As most of us know, Japanese are world-leaders in Industrial Robots. But, how many times we thought, why?. Here's an insight article on Economist, looks at why this unique community favours Robots so much. Japan's humanoid robots | Better than people | Economist.com Interestingly, it also contrasts the Japanese way of thought towards living and non-living things from the perspective of Shintoism. How're they immune from robophobia. Nevertheless, I've come across an interesting discussion /. is it the necessity or the choice that Japanese have so much interest in Robots. The article also discusses at not so pleasant view of racism in Japanese society and a reader indeed made a comment referring to the article from Economist with the following comments. The article had an...

Is Bangalore losing the ground or revitalising all its strengths?. Here's an article on IHT (International News Paper from NY Times), discussing how Bangalore is becoming the incubation center for the young graduates. Is it the city's atmosphere that has developed over the past twenty years or so with so many technology and research companies. Bangalore talent lures start-ups in high tech - Business - International Herald Tribune The new firms are drawn by the region's big pool of engineering graduates, many of whom have expertise in esoteric new technologies. That advantage, coupled with labor costs much lower than those of Silicon Valley, is starting to turn Bangalore, long a center for lower- end outsourcing services, into a center of higher-end innovation. I sincerely look forward to see the Desi Silicon Valley. Way to go!

Keep looking into some of the very innoative and amazingly useful things from the two giants of search. Google Labs : The technology playground for Google. Yahoo Next : The cutting edge of what Yahoo!'s doing today and working on for tomorrow! Not all of these innovations go into the mainstream, but give a new dimension to the way look, organise and store information. Its quite interesting to see this race between Google and Yahoo. Irrespective of who would win the race, the end user will certainly get a lot of comfort.

Here's are two interesting and very informative articles from McKinsey Quarterly. Checking India's Vital Signs (Registration required) [ The article is supposed to be accessible only for premium subscribers, but in the light of the visit of US President to India, it has been kept for free till March 7, 2006. ] Checking China's Vital Signs Instead of long descriptinve text with few illustrations, these articles are just presented with full of illustrations. Very easy to understand, about the Overview of the nation, Economy, and Challenges that lie ahead. Shouldn't we get benefit from this knowledge? Thanks to McKinsey Quarterly.

How many of us really use the full potential of the enormous information and knowledge from BBC ?

Just came across an article on /. The Freesound Project is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. New to this site? Read the What is Freesound page to learn more!

An excerpt from the article: The enormous US trade deficit has caused many observers to conclude that international trade, particularly a massive flood of imported goods from China and of services from India, is to blame for the loss of US jobs since 2000. In fact, research shows that only 11 percent of the job losses in manufacturing—about 314,000 jobs—can be attributed to trade, and even in this instance the real culprit was falling exports, not rising imports. Offshoring in the services sector destroyed even fewer jobs. The real causes of job losses were weak domestic demand, rapid productivity growth, and the dollar's strength. Read More: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_page.aspx?ar=1559&L2=7&L3=10&srid=17&gp=0

TECH TIME: 50 Coolest Websites There have been so many top web sites listings. Treat this as another. But, worth going through.

I don't know exactly :-). But, ever since I came to Cyprus, I have observed two more copies-insipirations in Indian cinema from the rest of the world. In the first week of coming to Cyprus, I was getting bored of watching greek tv channels. But, most of these greek channels feature some English movies in the nights. This was about one movie I saw then named Dead Poet's Society starring Robin Williams and others. One of Chopra's romantic musicals, 'Mohabbatein' which looks similar in more than plot with the Robin Williams' movie. Can we call this inspiration, copying.. ??? Google Search: dead poet's society mohabbatein And, another instance was a song in a telugu movie 'Varsham', which became hugely popular in Andhra Pradesh was actually copied from a greek song called 'Sarampel'. Only after coming to Cyprus, I realised this. Ignorance is bliss :-D. Personally, I feel inspiration is positive where as copying is s...

Gmail , started like an April Fool joke on 1st April, 2004. I was desperately looking for an invitation then. I managed to get an invitation after two months since it was launched. Gmail is still a fascination for the net republic. Today, I've got 50 invitations to offer. If any one needs one, please contact me.

If you're bored of routine activities. Here's your place to make your brain sharper. Don't think, these are problems for kids. I feel, every problem is unique in its own way. Interactive Mathematics Activities : "Interactive Mathematics Activities"

INCOSE - A Consensus of the INCOSE Fellows : "Most systems engineers accept the following basic core concepts: 1. Understand the whole problem before you try to solve it 2. Translate the problem into measurable requirements 3. Examine all feasible alternatives before selecting a solution 4. Make sure you consider the total system life cycle. The birth to death concept extends to maintenance, replacement and decommission. If these are not considered in the other tasks, major life cycle costs can be ignored. 5. Make sure to test the total system before delivering it. 6. Document everything."

YouSendIt | Email large files quickly, securely, and easily! I was irritated by gmail's attachment policy. When I was going through groups.google.com, I found a reference to this site. Quite an interesting one, especially if you face problems when sending attachments.

Guys, look at this. It seems some guys in Bangalore are trying to (re)create an OS. Several techs they used seem to have borrowed from Linux and Unix world. Work looking at. Documentation page still says 'Under Construction'. This s/w is certainly an outcome out of the interests of these young programmers. Anyway, all the best guys. MIR-OS . Couldn't figure out the reason behind the name.