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11
May 07

India to build a $10 laptop

cheap $10 laptopThe Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) invested in designing a $10 laptop computer.

Until now, one laptop including labour charges is costing $47 but the ministry forecasts that the price will radically come down when the demand will rise to manufacture one million laptops. An official from HRD ministry said:

    The cost is encouraging and we are hopeful it would come down to $10. We would also look into the possibility of some Indian company manufacturing the parts

The final year engineering student of Vellore Institute of Technology in conjunction with researcher from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore has proposed two designs to the ministry.

In both of the submitted designs, according to Times of India, all components would be located on a single circuitboard. This would keep prices down and make it easier to find and repair problems.

The true estimate to launch a $10 laptop is another two years:

    We do not want to rush into it. Many issues remain to be resolved like royalty to the designer after the design is patented. Prototyping would also take time. We would even conduct destructive testing and create a proper maintenance network

HRD received several proposals from some big multi national companies, but none of them was willing to develop laptop for $10 bucks – greedy closed mind/source corpo-s.


09
May 07

Life as a Network of Happiness

There is a constant competition in the animal world. Well, we ARE animals (no? – yes), and we compete with each other, unconsciously, but we always do.

There are two main criterias that we, ourselves, came up with that define us to "be smart". One is EDUCATION another is WISDOM. The second is usually given. It does develop, but it is a sort of a naturally given talent, which is either there or not – simple.

There are plenty of people who are well over educated in history, art, even science, than I am. And you know what, every point of contact, every way of communication is a competition. Majority of humans exchange knowledge, but NOT for the sake of exchanging, for the sake of competition (no? – yes).

Everybody (well almost everybody) is inclined to truly believe, that S/HE is "the one". Whether it is being right, knowing better, or even have a higher meaning in life than other humans – everybody is inclined to believe that S/HE is that very unique being.

Sometimes, well, a lot of times I meet people, different people. Some people I meet instantaneously start competing with me (in a form of "exchanging knowledge"). Sometimes I can win, other times I can’t. But most of the time, no matter whether I can win or not, I just LET them win – they need it, they want it, it goes inside and fulfills them with confidence and superiority, so why not make them "happy" – I LET them be – I MAKE them be.

This does not apply to all "my" environments. At work, I can’t loose, I just can’t – very simple reason – my paycheck is directly proportional to the quantity of "wins". But that is very different in a real life (yes, real life is NOT work). Why should I make an effort, or spend time to get that "win" in real life? There are many more fun (happy) things to do.

There is a problem with that, and that problem is "superiority". Not the actual "superiority", but that fake superiority that I grant many people with. They DO feel superior, and next time we come to the communication point – they use a "top-bottom" approach, instead of a "one-to-one" or "same level to same level". There is nothing wrong with them – they are just "not given" or "not talented", so I keep letting them win – make them happier. It is also a problem when other animals (humans) are involved in communication who just make a collective understanding of me as a character. It is solved by dividing people by the level of "self-happiness".

Level of "self-happiness"? Common people, you’re not familiar with terminology!? Well after all its my own terminology :) So.. Here is a workable – very simple and honest approach that I take. I eliminate (not terminate, but just eliminate) creatures from my network (in real life – no work network involved) by a very clear criteria. Creatures that make me happy (joyful, positive, etc) stay in the network, and grow roots – people that do not – get disconnected (which effectively is elimination).

"Life is short"? I disagree. Life is Life – I do not believe that the measure that explains that there are 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, blah, blah, blah can be applied to Life. Time is what WE invented, and what we use to measure things – very inaccurate and very subjective, don’t you agree? You don’t? – well, you don’t have to – we are different after all. So given Life cannot be measured with Time, there is still a belief that says that Life is "singular per me" (I have only one life), and keeping that in mind, WHY would I need people who do not make me happy in my network? WHY? I don’t – I have only one Life – at least I am bounded by that "life singularity" understanding. I can dream/imagine/think that there are more "me" Life(s), but at this point in time I know it is singular, so – "a creature does not make me happy? -> out of my network -> there is NO point for a creature to be there"

That may sound like a very heartless approach, but it actually quite opposite. There are plenty of creatures that keep me in THEIR network, because I make them happy, and they do not have to do anything, if I make them happy, that 95% means that I am happy just because of the fact I make them happy. "Make me happy" is not a Sultanic or Tsar’s approach: "give me this", "do this for me" or "make my wish come true" – most of the time it is "just being there" – it is mostly existence and a character of that existence that makes me happy.

Don’t you find that there are too many "happy"s in the above two/three thoughts? Well, you are very observant, but there is nothing wrong with being happy, and being happy, and being happy again – try it – really it’s great!

Don’t try to give all the above much meaning if all the above does not give you much meaning – that means that you just do not have that talent, and that is fine. Go on and keep "exchanging knowledge". However, if it does gets inside, and "you can feel what I mean", that just means that you are another talented creature who is capable of LETting "them" win, and building a kind, honest and sincere network around you.

Sounds like a law being written as I speak? Yes – and it is my law – I create it, I write it, I rewrite it and I obey it. It is mine – you don’t have to :)


09
May 07

Why Web and Movie Pirates Can’t Be Touched

PirateAccording to forbes pirates don’t just plunder. In Sweden, it seems, they also believe in sharing.

As the world’s largest repository of BitTorrent files, ThePirateBay.org helps millions of users around the world share copyrighted movies, music and other files–without paying for them.

That’s illegal, of course–at least it is in the U.S. But when Time Warner‘s (nyse: TWX news people ) Warner Bros. studio accused them of breaking U.S. copyright law in 2005, the pirates gleefully reminded the movie company that they didn’t live in America, but rather in "the land of vikings, reindeer, Aurora Borealis and cute blond girls."

:)


08
May 07

Tab Preview Extension for Firefox

"Tab Preview" is a new extension for Firefox 1.5 (and later) that shows a tab content (page) preview as you move your mouse pointer to a tab:

Tab Preview Extension for Firefox

This comes very handy when you have lots of different tabs, especially on the same topic and similar titles.

This extension is quite configurable through "Tools -> Add-Ons -> (extension) Options":

Tab Preview Extension Options

Try it out, it is very fast and adjusts the size of its previews automatically depending on a browser window size.

I found it to be a very cool one – install it to experience its beauty :)

 


07
May 07

Windows New Live Hotmail – Still Far From The Old Gmail

Microsoft has released a new version of its Hotmail with 2Gb of space, AJAX looking, blah, blah, blah. Here is how it looks by the way

Windows Live Hotmail

1.    First thing that I tried once I logged my self in is to use simple letters as shortcuts, well the same way we use shortcuts in Gmail, remember? "c" to compose a new mail, "n" for the next message, "p" for the previous message, and so on. Well Hotmail stays Hotmail no matter what – explicit shortcuts are NOT there

2.    Second thing is I tried to resize my inbox with mail, you know, if they make it so lame by default, I thought maybe I can do that. Guess what… well you guessed right – can’t explicitly do that too

3.    Then I clicked on that annoying huge "Windows Live" bar on top – got a completely empty screen with "http://www.getlive.com/" in my address bar. Hm.. annoying and empty – why?

4.    Clicked on "full message view" in a preview panel – gave me a good message view, but I spent at least 5-6 seconds figuring out how to go back to normal view (I had to close the whole window) – explicit? Human Computer Interaction problem? How hard is it to put "back to normal view" or something like that?

5.    Looked for labels, found them by logging to my Gmail, so.. no labels – is it patent by Google, or Hotmail is too cool for that?

 

Overall, it is much better than old Hotmail, but way far from being "Gmail compliant". Lots of colorful bars, ads, response time (I have a high speed connection), HCI (human computer interaction) principles used (and not used), etc.

I give it "C+". Well, yea – I am the user, means Hotmail is my student, and apparently Freshmen. So get to books Hotmail, and remember SIMPLICITY is the key – Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS), or is it not from Windows Bible? :)