Free Opera web broswer registration

On eve of completing 10 yrs, Opera is giving free registrations.
Check out: http://my.opera.com/community/party/
If you miss it, here are the codes which I got.


Windows
w-pB3Vc-FU8Ch-AwAuU-AuPHJ-tsCVd

Linux Intel
u-KRJVc-SuTCh-EKiuU-pU4HJ-xTQVd

Linux PowerPC
p-XpPuf-tSkai-mKBCT-CdCeM-N4Kte

Linux Sparc
k-Vx48e-vK7ui-pBpWT-AmQSL-QTxMe

FreeBSD
f-EPWie-YnSWi-7Sj8S-EK34K-6KPif

Solaris
s-eJkWe-LUpji-EMEMT-hjMJL-xRuCe

Mac
m-jzEVc-YdQCh-sweuU-H87HJ-LaUVd

Tags: Opera,Legal, Free

Microsoft Releases WinFS Beta 1

Microsoft today released Beta 1 of their new product named WinFS. And yes, WinFS does not stand for Windows File System. It stands for Windws "Future Storage". So what is so futuristic about WinFS. Nothing, if you ask me !!

Well not really, to give microsoft its due, WinFS does have its advantages and its bringing to the desktop what Sun's Project Honeycomb aims to bring to the enterprise (Ok, OSX Tiger/spotlight already implements most of this stuff already, but we'll get to that later ;). WinFS is not a new filesystem. It does not replace NTFS. What Microsoft has done is basically used the core of SQL server and sandwiched it between NTFS and an upper layer API for developers to take advantage of the underlying engine. The implications of doing so would be that users would now be able to relate files with each other, probably by using tags or by using the SQL engine to form relations between files, much like an RDBMS. You can find more details here and here.

This concept isn't new. BeOS implemented some of these technologies successfully in its BeFS. OS X has done it in the recent past and Linux with Beagle is almost there. Oh Yeah, For Winduh !! users this would be a totally new and cool thing. All the best to them ;)

Tags: microsoft,WinFS,SQL,Linux,OS X

Linux Kernel 2.6.13 released

Kernel 2.6.13 has been released. A few new features/drivers including inotify support and new PCI code are the major changes in the new kernel.

Linux, Kernel

Gmail Finally open to the Public

Gmail has finally opened it's doors to the public, the US Public atleast ;)
Signing up requires you to give them their mobile number which they will use to send you a confirmation code and you enter it into their site and get yourself a brand new gmail account !! The referral based signup method is still there because the mobile service only works for US mobile owners right now. According to them, they're "working very hard" to include more countries on the list, but its gonna take some time.

Ok. How many of us actually type google.com in the browser sub-conciously ? I know I do !! And I know so do you, atleast a sizeable number of you anyway.

The google domination has begun !!


Tags: Gmail, google.

what does my birthdate say ?

Your Birthdate: October 16

Your birth on the 16th day of the month gives a sense of loneliness and generally the desire to work alone. You are relatively inflexible, and insist on your being independent. You need a good deal of time to rest and to meditate. You are introspective and a little stubborn. Because of this, it may not be easy for you to maintain permanent relationships, but you probably will as you are very much into home and family. This birth day inclines to interests in the technical, the scientific, and to the religious or the unknown realm of spiritual explorations. The date gives you a tendency to seek unusual approaches and makes your style seem a little different and unique to those around you. Your intuition is aided by the day of your birth, but most of your actions are bedded in logic, responsibility, and the rational approach. You may be emotional, but have a hard time expressing these emotions. Because of this, there may be some difficulty in giving or receiving affection.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Sun Grid Utility Service goes Live ... for Employees only

Sun Microsystems turned on its Grid computing utility, for hosting large ERP applications for its employees to test out the server infrastructure and user acceptance of the Computing-as-metered-utility model. General availability is scheduled for October. Sun is offering processing and storage in a pay-as-you-go arrangement of $1 per CPU per hour, delivered via an Internet connection. Experts quoted in the article wonder if Sun can make any money this way with the price of computing resources dropping each day. With linux and the beowulf project almost anyone can now create a cluster and have access to high quality free software for any kind of work. I wonder if the ASP model is even viable anymore !!

Tags: Sun, beowulf,Grid

Intel to port it's Developer Tools to MacOSX

Intel is porting its developer tools to MacOSX and should have the first beta ready by this year end. Apple revealed this bit information at the first ever session on Mac OS X at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. Apple is currently working on its first intel based Macs, due sometime in 2006. Seems like true cross platform development is finally gonna be here, with unix/linux, windows and Mac developers being able to share the same developer tools and work on the same underlying platform, x86. I don't know about others but I would have wanted the Macs to retain the powerpc as a platform choice too. Choice is always good, right !!

Tags: Apple,MacOSX, Intel.

Google Talk Live

Google has just released a beta version of their instant messaging service called Google Talk. Users dont have to use their IM client for logging in to the service. They can use any jabber compatible client like gaim and start chatting. They will not be able to use the voice chat feature of the service, though, if they use anything other than the official google client.

Dont be surprised if you see advertisements popping up on the screen in the middle of your conversation ;) Suppose you are chatting with a friend about foreign travel and google starts showing you travels ads, you are bound to be tempted enough to click on one of them. And help google make more money !! Sound like microsoft to me !!

Tags: Google

OSX book

I was browsing over at http://en.wikibooks.org/ and found that there is not a single OSX book there, so I've started one here. Feel free to add articles to the list. We really need a free resource to OSX.

Update: I did find an OS X Book at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X, but I still plan to keep contribute bits here and there to the book I've started. I'll probably change its name later. The objective of my book would be too document OS X from a more technical users perspective unlike the other book which focuses on new users.

Tags: OS X, Books

Bluetooth dongle

I finally found my little bluetooth dongle and so I'll have net at home today. I use the USB-bluetooth dongle to surf from my ibook using my phone's gprs. It really was annoying losing the dongle and not being able to find it .. Grrrr ... And guess where I found it ?? It was in the cramster saddlebag that I use to carry stuff on my bike. I mean, I have no idea how it got there and don't even want to think. I'm just glad I went on that panchgani trip because of which I found the dongle ;) Oh btw: I had fun on the trip without the dongle too :-)

Tags: Bluetooth, iBook, GPRS

Zeta OS 1.0 Review

Ars Technica has a fairly detailed and long'ish review of Zeta OS 1.0. Read it !! It might just make you move on from the other side.
BeOS

NetBSD on your toaster

For long NetBSD has been known as the most portable Unix like OS around. Some say that it can be ported to anything but the kitchen toaster. Not anymore !!

Technologic Systems has developed the world's first NetBSD Controlled Toaster.

"This toaster features a 4 line LCD, USB keyboard, 10/100 ethernet port and a RS232 serial port for the external console. The toaster's internal circuit boards have been bypassed and routed through the CPU board allowing NetBSD complete control over the toaster's features. A keyboard connects through a USB port on the side of the toaster and the 4x40 LCD displays a NetBSD/toaster login prompt. The burner element is also controlled by the TS-7200 via an internal relay. Unlike previous NetBSD toasters which were nothing more than a glorified PC case-mod, this toaster can actually toast bread!"

Technorati tags: Toaster, BSD, NetBSD

Aamir khan is blogging ...

... as mangal pandey.

Click here to go to mangal pandey's official blog. Can't believe this is happening. Bollywood has come a long way :)

Using gmail as webhost ?

I've been thinking about it for a while and actually think that using a gmail account as a file store hosting a site should be possible. There are a number of scripts, like this one, that already allow you to store your files online in your gmail account. Taking this idea further, we should be able to write a few scripts which would fetch and display files from the gmail account to our visitors. It would be good to try this with one of the free php space providers like Tripod UK. I would really want to use it to store my photos online without the irritating resizing which other providers like Yahoo! photos do.

Technorati Tags: gmail,yahoo, Tripod, PHP