Sankaranand Balaradjou

Author: Sankaranand

  • Indians use ringtone to trap leopards – creative isn’t ?

    leopardtrap.pngLeopards which come under wild category are not easy to be trapped or mingle with social life. From ancient time till today people use many tricks to catch animals’ especially wild animals, with the advancement in technology, the impact made some forest officials in western India to use Ringtone to capture or trap leopards. When you sneak the creativity behind this idea, the concept seems to be ultimately simple.

    How the trick actually works?

    Using cell phones with ringtones of cows mooing, goats bleating and roosters crowing to attract leopards, they easily make the wild cats to fall in their pit. Leopards usually roam into villages near forests in search of food and as a result they attack people, but now this method had made the officials to fetch the leopards easily. This is one of a best usage of technology while people on other side misusing cell phones like mms scandals, pranks etc.

    Vasani, one of a forest official said forest guards have downloaded the sounds of over a dozen animals as ringtones on their mobiles which they attach to speakers and fix behind a cage.

    Yahoo news also reports that activists welcomed the new initiative saying that previous methods of trapping the cats using pits often resulted in the animals getting injured. Hope PETA promotes this step every where for the better care of animals.

  • BSNL to offer 8 mbps connectivity soon

    Its time to celebrate again and luck pours for BSNL broadband customers as the company shortly planned to release a new scheme called Three-in-one `Broadband Multiplay’ which includes a single package of voice, video and Internet protocol television (IPTV) services.

    You all might have already experiencing the new whooping 2 mbps speed now which they have announced shortly but to again surprise you their new technology will enable  the connectivity speed of up to goddamn “8 mbps” (Please believe me).  When comparing developed countries, this speed doesn’t count but when it happens in India, its good news to share up.

    The new package is all about ON-DEMAND service by which the provider will install a set-box in your place. The Hindu reports that this new services will be launched in 789 cities shortly. Great news is that your ADSL copper wire connectivity will soon be replaced by new futuristic technology, `Fiber to the home,’ which was in the final stage of technical valuation. Seem like my post about the Free Internet for everyone likely to be hinted.

  • Wish some one a million thank you !

    Is someone very grateful to you, or completed your deserved favor? Searching for ways to thank them?Well don’t gift them or send them an e-card instead say a million thank you by this funny flash animation.

    No I am not joking see this funny flash to know and make sure you turn your speaker’s on.

    Links: Million Thankyou | Thanks: Shankar Ganesh.

  • Windows live Beta Program! Wanna in?

    msconnect.pngWhat’s this beta program actually? Microsoft’s Test center or lab work with external users to enhance their Microsoft products by asking suggestion, bug reports etc enabling the earlier download of their products and betas.

    I am an active participant of Microsoft Connect and previously participated in Windows Embedded program now they have invited me to take part in the Windows live betas program which gives us the opportunity of experiencing the live products earlier before the public actually download it.

    As a participant of their exclusive group of Managed Beta Testers, my key role is to provide accurate feedback to their teams. Currently they allow me to download pre-release versions of Windows Live messenger, Windows live mail, Windows live writer. Currently I am working out with Windows live messenger to submit my feedback to MS Team. [update: Submitted a vulnerable Bug]

    Also I am invited to try the Microsoft Pop-fly which seems to be a great new experience. Let me try out and write a short review about it later. Microsoft gives very special privilege for its beta testers, sometimes in thanks giving it also sends free CDs, T-shirts and other stuffs.

    As far now I got all trial version CD’s from Microsoft which include Windows Vista, Office 2007 etc. Indians should be aware about this Microsoft India Community website called Mera Windows and Mera Office. They have many stuffs and resources to share, especially free gifts like CDs directly from Microsoft India.

     

  • Sivaji The boss – Trailer

    The most anticipated film of south Indians called Sivaji, the boss is estimated to be the most expensive Indian film till date. This sudden post is about the awesome trailer which was recently released in IBN-CNN website. As usual the sound scoring is given by our music legend A.R Rahman. Wow, there is a special curiosity among the public for Mr.RajniKanth sir’s film who is known to be the “SUPERSTAR” of south indian films. I vote him as superstar too and no one can perform styles like he does. I love to watch his films since childhood especially his dialogues and styles which are not only attractive but inspirational and thought provoking.

    This film Sivaji is getting a very high fame not only because of its cost, but the mixture of three great minds, RajniKanth who is starring, Shankar who is one of a famous director and our legend A.R Rahman.

    Thanks for the trailer, I hope you all enjoy it.

    Links: Watch | Download.

  • Creating a simple web 2.0 favicon – Tutorial

    Inspired with the favicon design of web 2.0 sites like Tech Crunch, Lifehacker, Technorati, etc? Well follow this simple tutorial for creating web 2.0 fav icon using Photoshop. All you need is just Adobe Photoshop software installed.

    favicon1.giffavicon2.giffavicon3.gif

    Ok let’s get started!

    Open a new project in Photoshop either by navigating to File > New or just press Ctrl + N.

    pic1.gif

    Now make sure the width and height its 400px so that you can get a square shaped fav icon with the background color as white.

    Now select the desired background color you want to use for your fav icon by clicking set foreground color as show in the figure. Choose a nice web 2.0 color from the Color library.

    pic2.gif

    pic4.gif

    After selecting the BG color to be used, in the tool box of the Photoshop select Gradient tool or just press (G).

    Now below the menu bar you will get a gradient color option, which looks similar to the screenshot posted below, click it and select foreground to transparent palette.pic5.gif

    After selecting, drag your mouse from the outermost top of the project to its extreme end via +y to –y axis and leave down to get a color background. While dragging if you seem to have white color over the bottom then press ctrl + z to re-drag and this time drag it out of the bottom extreme to make the white color disappear,

    After getting desired web2.0 background for the fav icon, select the horizontal text tool from the tool box and type the first name of your website or added two different layers of text if you need two initials in your fav icon.

    After typing your desired initial, select a color for the text which matches the background perfectly or your website theme. (Basically both the background and foreground should match the website theme color). But if you add two initials in the fav icon make sure you give two different colors then.

    Now the next part is the optional part of adding 3-d effect. If you satisfy with the current design you can skip this step otherwise add a bevel or emboss effect to the text by right clicking the text and selecting the blending option.

    pic7.gif

    That’s it now the next process is exporting the created project as jpeg image by navigating to File > Save as > and selecting jpeg as format and click save.

    The exported jpeg can be easily converted to .ico favicon by visiting this website.

    Please forgive me if you have expected more about the design coz I have already mentioned the title as how to design a “SIMPLE” web 2.0 icon which made my tutorial concise after all this is my first tutorial. I have uploaded the .PSD files and made available for download which you can modify according to your wish.

    Last but not least, I am expecting your comments and suggestions…

    Download: Sample 1 | Sample 2 | Sample 3 (PSD Format).

    [update]: Sample 2,3 are live at Technical Blog & BlogTalkz please don’t inherit the same design.

  • Free Internet all over India?

    freeintindia.png

    Last week while attending our college magazine function, an officer from Planning commission has been invited as Chief Guest. He was giving several lectures about the recent developments in science and technology based on India and so on. Well the shocking or surprising news to share with all of you is that Government of India has plans to give “Free Internet All over India” within few months. Does that sound great? Also he added that the highest revenue is from the field of Information and Technology, lol I am studying for that… but the reality is that everyone is focusing towards the same field so in order to divert the minds and bring new opportunities in other field; the government has implemented many schemes for R&D (Research and Development Sector), especially R&D in biotechnology.

    Ok I am going off the topic, I myself still cannot believe the news of free internet during that time when all of a sudden a guy raised a question asking that India is still lacking in giving high bandwidth to their consumers where other countries get a whooping mbps for a normal rate while this is happening in India how are they able to give free internet?

    The guest thought for a while and answered that India is a largest country with millions of population, there are villages which still don’t even get telephone connections but we are using Internet vastly especially the traffic contribution from India is really high, how is it possible ?

    This is another reason why we still lack in advancement of communication but our scientist have recently able to transfer date rate up to a terabyte per second (not sure about it but he added this). Even India produced three super computers which we might have not heard or it might be kept confidential. But the plans of Free Internet Connection seem to be on progress and will be launched in quite few months. When thinking from a positive angle there is no surprise or obstacle to believe this thing, since the recent advancements had made the internet and its technology a whooping success.

    Lets wait and watch beside ….

  • Start your own mobile company – no kidding its true!

    sonologo.png

    Who said you need blocks of investment for starting your mobile company? No investments, no risks, just a few clicks can make you start your very own Virtual mobile company. Still don’t believe me chill out your snooping and read carefully.sonopialan.png

    Sonopia a website dedicated in new kind of mobile marketing allows a user to create his own mobile company by choosing a Sonopia profile which allows to customize your company name, logo, plans you want to sell including mobile content and webpage (just like a reseller) with high end themes.

    “Our mission is to provide every organization, group or club with the opportunity to create branded mobile service and build a unique mobile and web community of supporters and members. “- Sonopia

    You can either host the page in their server or create your own and start marketing so you get a percentage amount of the telephone bill paid by your customers. You tend to get commissions for selling plans and mobile phones. The drawback is that Sonopia allows only US residents to create a profile where International users still have to wait for to include mobile plans for your country.

    Still waiting for a good time? Start creating your own mobile now!

    Links: Sonopia | Create your own Company |

  • Grand Theft Auto 4 (GTA IV) – Screenshots

    gtaiv_logo.png

    You all might be eagerly waiting for the official release of Grand Theft Auto IV the latest version of GTA Series which is extended till October but few days before the official site has released some screenshots of the Game and its insight.

    gtaiv-0525-04.pngFor those who don’t know the early news here is a short info that GTA IV is the upcoming version of GTA which is official to be released on October 16, 2007. More than 150 developers are working with 4. As per the sources only trailer is available till last week but now the site has released some screenshots of the game which gives us a clear insight about the game environment.

    Even pre-orders have been accepted for Xbox 360 and Play station 3 console modes. Last week GTA announced a special edition

    Sale for GTA IV which is packed in a customized metal safe deposit box which includes the following

    • ARockstar keychain for the safe deposit box keys,
    • Rockstar duffel bag,
    • Never-before-seen production artwork from GTA IV,
    • The Soundtrack CD of GTA IV
    • A specially packaged version of the game for either PS3 and XBOX 360.
    • This limited version package is only USD $89.00 (not sure if available in India).

    Links: Screenshots | Trailer.