Picasa3 Photo Viewer

The Picasa 3 has a nifty new feature called the Photo Viewer. Click on any image and this is what it will look like. Its got a very cool effect to it and looks rather snazzy.

Chrome Bugs and the opera connection

That Chrome incorporates a lot from Opera is not very good news. So google themselves did a Microsoft dint they? (for MS having taken a lot of Apple Mac features). Well the bad news certainly stems from the fact that are we running out of ideas and features for browsers? Even if they had launched 6 months later but with features that were really unique and enhancing user experience, it would have well been the effort. Well the fact also is not many use Opera and hence using chrome would definitely provide a enhanced and newer experience for the user.

Well news is also that there are bugs in chrome (of course) and they are coming out fast. People are going to tear chrome apart especially for the fact that its a BIG product launch from google.

My Google Chrome posting

This is my first post on wordpress. i was inspired to write a full technical themed blog based on the response i got to my post on Google Chrome. It was just a one paragraph writeup about google chrome and im getting thousands of hits for the last couple of days. A far cry from a montly average of 500 hits per month on my other blog here

Google Chrome Vs Firefox

Image via Wikipedia Googles official announcement about the impending launch of Chrome, their own scratch up browser. Well what does this do to Firefox? The second ranked browser in terms of market share has never had it going so good. A recent record number of downloads for Firefox 3 and the new features have only added to Firefox‘es popularity. Well now with chrome coming out, what does this do with google’s association with FireFox? Google being inherently more popular than the Firefox brand, a download chrome link on their main page may get a whole lot of users trying out their new browser. This will of course impact Firefox and even IE, but then users will really decide that. 5 years down the line, will Firefox and chrome compete? will they merge into one? will Firefox fade like how Netscape did? or will users simply reject chrome? Not every Google product is successful and well that might simply be the answer.

OTOH, if chrome is a really good design and can fit into embedded devices as much as it can into PC’s them well it may well still be a really successful browser.

HP Cartridge cost , Pricing and ink levels

I have an HP All-in-one C3188. Its proved to be a worthy buy and i have used it quite a bit. My cartridge’s ink seems to be very low now. First thing, i wasn’t able to make out the current ink level on the cartridge. On right clicking the HP Printer icon, on the “Printing Preferences” menu, on the features tab, i can see a “Printer Services” button. This button doesn’t work when i click on it. Well anyways, i decided to buy a new cartridge. There were 2 options, buy a new one or refill the older oner. I guess the latter is the unofficial way of doing it. I enquired at the BDA complex in Koramangala. There are 4-5 stationary shops there and one of them refilled Black cartridges at Rs125/- and coloured ones at Rs 300/-. As i walked way after the enquiry, he called out for me and said, he would refill both at Rs 350/-. The enquiry for a new cartridge numbers 851 (Apparently i was enquiring for the wrong number, i should have been asking for the number 850 which is compatible with the C3188) was surprising. I got 5 different prices from 5 different shops within the same BDA complex building. Prices varied from Rs 740 to Rs 825. I of course ended up buying the Rs 740 one and then later realized that it was not the correct cartridge. I ended up buying the correct one for 675/- only to later realize that the HP website was offering one for about 8-10 rupees lesser. I’m sure if i’d gone through the entire procedure of finding prices again, i would have got a better deal. This reminded me of the lecture by Dr Preston of Yahoo which i attended at the Leela Palace, Bangalore some months back. A very insightful talk about pricing.

BSNL Broadband, Wireless Issues with Huawei and DNS address

I have had trouble this month connecting to the BSNL broadband service. On a particular weekend, i just couldnt connect to the internet. I called up the customer care at 1500 and they told me they were experiencing server problems. Again last weekend, i faced similar issues. i finally decided to check if there was something i could learn by logging on to my wireless router (Huawei).
I logged in and it showed me as connected. I then checked the system logs but dint see them too well. A little later i figured out the logs showed the complete bootup of the router and it did show 2 DNS address which i wasnt using in my network configuration. I used a static ip actually and have not enabled DHCP. The new addresses were 218.248.240.24 and 218.248.240.208. These were different from the 61.1.96.69/71 addresses i was using earlier. I used these new addresses and well i was able to browse without issues.

Another peculiar problem im facing is my laptop doesnt work with the huawei wireless router at home. Im wireless all the while at office and so it definitely is a problem with the router at home. I chan check my ralink wireless utility and it shows the wireless signal going off and on every 5-10 seconds or so. i now need to investigate this in greater detail, maybe first with google and them later again with the utilities available on the router.

Nokia Morph Concept

The Nokia Morph concept looks so very interesting. The promise that nano technology holds is mind boggling. Have a look at the concept here http://www.nokia.com/A4852062 and the video @ http://www.nokia.com/A4879144

Yahoo Maps in India

I found the Yahoo Maps feature for India very promising. Now that one of my friends is actually working in Yahoo, its easier for me giving feedback as well. For example, i wanted driving directions from Madivala (In Bangalore) to Kamat Yatri Nivas on the road to mysore (About 60 Km away from Bangalore city) and currently yahoo maps doesn’t help me. It does show me the road to the Kamat YatriNivas in Gandhinagar or National Market. The send to SMS feature works and is really useful. Should explore more of this and actually try out the routes mentioned to see if they really are the logical and faster ones.

Ubuntu Linux Desktop

I used the isohunt website to download a movie. I usually dont do this but in a reckless act, i actually downloaded an unknown codec (Riyo Codec) and it caused my internet connection to go kaput. Luckily i have ubuntu installed (Yes the latest one) and i booted into Ubuntu and googled for Riyo codec. It did turn out to be a hijacker. There is a howto to remove the program and i still havent tried it. More coz somehow i am very comfortable using the new Ubuntu Desktop (7.10). It runs a GNOME desktop and its very simple to use. Of course while using it for daily purposes, you will need to download and install a lot of plugins. The update manager in Ubuntu (Synaptic) does a great job at that. Browsing is easy, playing movies is easy and so is listneing to music. The rhythmbox music player plays easy and when i plugged my new ipod nano, it popped out and i could play songs of it. good stuff im impressed. linux desktops are now slowly but surely announcing their arrival!

interesting news

Xerox document security blocks access to sensitive data. see the story here
NASA and ISS computer glitches reasons found here