Murugavel's Lark

Supermoon

2011-03-20T12:40:00.000+05:30

My first attempt at photographing the skies!

Munich, Germany - Jan 2011

2011-03-12T08:44:00.004+05:30

Munich Trip 2011

Vienna, Austria - Summer 2010

2010-09-06T17:34:00.001+05:30

Vienna Trip 2010

Salzburg, Austria - Summer 2010

2010-09-06T17:33:00.001+05:30

Salzburg Trip 2010

Dobratsch, Austria - Summer 2010

2010-09-06T17:29:00.002+05:30

Dobratsch, Summer 2010

Sabarimala Trip 2010

2010-04-18T07:49:00.000+05:30

Sabarimala Trip 2010

References

2010-04-06T15:33:00.001+05:30

If you are checking a reference and you ask someone's former employer, "Would you hire this person again?" any answer but "yes" is a "no."

The survival rule

2010-04-06T15:31:00.001+05:30

You can live three seconds without blood, three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food.

Off to Rome this weekend :-)

2010-02-25T18:23:00.001+05:30

It's been a little more than a month here in Austria and there is no better time to go to Italy than now. The weather is thawing and with excitement in the air i am thrilled. Stay connected for the pictures :-). Once i am back i will also post pictures from my earlier weekend trip to a nearby ski resort. Ciao.

2010-02-01T01:45:00.000+05:30

iPad

relief tents and haiti

2010-01-24T18:34:00.001+05:30

Relief tents are a lie: they hardly last for a year. By the time the tent has rotted and the people are homeless again, the eyes of the media have moved on to some other disaster, and everybody says the situation is fine.

This is my year

2010-01-08T17:24:00.001+05:30

This is my year.
I’m fighting for it every moment.
I'm Fighting to keep the big, juicy prize in mind so it lands in my hands by the end of this year.
I'm Fighting to see and stay on the road, high or low.
I'm not stopping for distractions, no matter how attractive.
I have no respect for roadblocks: inadvertently or purposely cast in my path.
I’m fighting to obliterate my own inclination to please, appease or do anything less than seize the day; every day this year.
I’m exploding with energy, but conserving it, too.
I vow to plow through walls that surround me and beat anything that threatens to defeat me.
I own my ideas, my process, my results and my truth.
I own the rights. I own the turf. I own this fight, from round one.
I will make it to the big dance with a performance that’s bigger than a personal best.
I will cross the line in record time, with a valedictory lap on the track, flashing the victory sign.
This is my year.
I’m fighting for it!

Author:Nance Rosen is the author of Speak Up! & Succeed. She speaks to business audiences around the world and is a resource for press, including print, broadcast and online journalists and bloggers covering social media and careers. Read more at NanceRosenBlog. Twitter name: nancerosen.

2009-12-31T21:05:00.002+05:30

Wishing all my readers a very happy new year 2010!

The secret history of Swine Flu

2009-10-30T17:42:00.002+05:30

New Scientist has put togather an tracing the origins of the H1N1 influenza virus.

The timeline does a great job by explaining how the viruses evolve, how the interaction of humans and viruses in the past influences their relationship today and why older people have higher immunity to the 2009 strain that younder people lack... and other interesting bits :-)

TOP 10 Webhosts

2009-10-29T18:12:00.007+05:30

Doing a complete research before deciding to choose a web hosting provider is critical for your business and peace or mind!

Webhosting Blue Book does exactly this by listing the TOP 10 Hosts by ranking them by price, reliability, popularity, features, control panel, overall ease of use and support.

Web Hosting Bluebook is an informative guide to helping consumers and businesses find top quality web hosting services. Web sites ranked at webhostingblubook.com provide, affordable domain and web site hosting. No hidden charges and no future spikes in monthly charges. 24/7 support. Very reliable, with 99.9% uptime and unique hosting features to help customers build unique, professional sites with no hassle. According to their website, they are committed to finding web hosting services the keep in touch and constantly provide a great product for there customers.

Why should you start using Google Reader?

2009-10-29T16:21:00.001+05:30

Google Reader is a free, Web-based reader for RSS feeds. You can find feeds on nearly every Web site. RSS feeds offer a simplified view of Web content down to just text, pictures and videos--minus the site's style and formatting, which can sometimes hinder or befuddle casual reading. Google reader lets you subscribe to these feeds as easily as typing them into your browser's address bar, and lets you read them like you're browsing through e-mail. There are many online RSS readers available, but Google is one of the best. It's easy to get a grip on Google Reader basics, but there are several tips and tricks that can make it extremely productive.

Here are the Top 7 reasons why you should!

1) It is sociable: It is easy to share your feeds on other social networks like Twitter, Facebook , Digg, Delicious, Friendfeed.

2) Do more with your feed: Sharing in Google Reader is not the latest thing but there's more than it. You can save your feeds as PDF file in your computer, you can email it or you can simply share it anywhere you want. You can also translate your feeds with Google translator.

3) Read it off-line: Google reader allows you to read your feeds off-line. You have to install Google gears.

4) It is personal as social: Google Reader gives you better control on over your feeds, you can share your folders or individual post or keep private.

5) Better control over shared items: You can unshare your shared items anytime.

6) Better subscribing options: You can subscribe to any feed easily by just entering the URL of web page of just the title. By using Google Reader bookmarklet you can can subscribe any feed easily.

7) Easy feed management: You can manage your feeds easily the way you want it. It supports drag and drop and so you can send your feed to any folder. Easily create and delete folders, easy subscribe/unsubscribe options.

Swine Flu Treatments: Tamiflu (Oseltamivir), Ralenza (Zanamivir)

2009-04-28T18:00:00.006+05:30

As news of the A/1H1N Swine Flu pandemic spreads so do the rumours and fear. One persistently reoccurring statement is that existing flu treatments Tamiflu and Ralenza (generic names: Oseltamivir and Zanamivir) are not effective against the newest strain of Swine Flu. These rumours are not true; Tamiflu and Ralenza (Oseltamivir and Zanamivir) are considered to be effective and viable Swine Flue treatments.

You have probably heard more and more about the swine flu epidemic from Mexico spreading to the U.S., and a new media advisory is confirming that the drugs Tamiflu by Roche (OTC: RHHBY) and Relenza by GlaxoSmithkline (NYSE: GSK) are being released to combat the swine flu. While there was no mention of how many doses of each drug were in the total stockpile of 50 million doses, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a White House briefing that the government is releasing 25% of the 50 million stockpiled doses to treat the outbreak. This data may already be old, but the cases are listed as follows: California has 7 cases, Kansas has 2 cases, New York City has 8 cases, Ohio has 1 reported case, and Texas has 2 cases. These numbers are from earlier and obviously if this is any epidemic or is much more widespread then those numbers will grow. This is on the heels of some 1,300 suspected cases in Mexico and even New Zealand has said it is “likely” that 10 students who were recently in Mexico have swine flu. The CDC noted many ways to combat this, such as washing hands frequently, avoiding contact with sick people and the agency asks that you do not board an airplane if you are sick.

Zanamivir was the first neuraminidase inhibitor commercially developed. It is currently marketed by GlaxoSmithKline under the trade name Relenza. Relenza is the only type of zanamivir...Both Influenza A and B cause illness, however Influenza A is the more virulent strain. Influenza A is responsible for both the common ‘seasonal flu’ and notable influenza pandemics such as the Spanish flu (1918), while the Influenza virus B does not cause pandemics. Between 1990 to 2000, nine significant outbreaks of influenza A caused many deaths in England and Wales, compared to just four outbreaks of influenza B.

Oseltamivir is indicated for the treatment and prevention of infections due to influenza A and B virus in people at least one year of age. The usual adult dosage for treatment of influenza is 75 mg twice daily for 5 days, beginning within 2 days of the appearance of symptoms and with decreased doses for children and patients with renal impairment. Oseltamivir may be given as a preventive measure either during a community outbreak or following close contact with an infected individual. Standard prophylactic dosage is 75 mg once daily for patients aged 13 and older, which has been shown to be safe and effective for up to six weeks. The importance of early treatment is that the NA protein inhibition is more effective within the first 48 hours. If the virus has replicated and infected many cells the effectiveness of this medication will be severely diminished, especially over time.

Disclaimer: News and information compiled from various sources!!!

Communications Skills

2009-04-28T11:14:00.003+05:30

I have been writing a series of posts on Effective Communications Skills @ The Digital Electronics Blog, that are useful for any industry. The series is a humble attempt at sharing my views on effective communication from my past experiences of working in many multi-cultural and cross site settings, spanning various geographic zones!

Read Popular Magazines Using Your PC for Free

2009-04-28T11:02:00.004+05:30

Amit Agarwal @ Labnol has published an article on how to read popular magazines for free without any subscription. This hack requires the Safari browser and some change in settings. He also has a trick to read the Wallstreet Journal for free on the same post.

This is infact a simple trick to read the latest issues of popular magazines like PC Magazine, MIT Technology Review, Popular Mechanics, MacWorld, Lonely Planet, Reader’s Digest, Photography and also adult magazines like Playboy & Penthouse etc without paying any subscription charges. These digital magazines are in fact exact replicas of print that are served as high-resolution images for offline reading.

Dinamalar, Dinakaran, Tamil Murasu, Dina Thanthi, Malai Malar

2009-04-22T21:24:00.002+05:30

Leading Tamil Newspapers...

Maalai Malar
Dinamalar
Tamil Murasu
Daily Thanthi

Classifieds: 2BHK Flat Available for Rent in Rustam Bagh, Bangalore

2009-04-16T17:58:00.004+05:30

Updates: Not available anymore!

A 2BHK Flat @ Rustam Bagh, Airport Rd is available for possession from 1st May, 2009. Rustam Bagh is a very calm and pollution free locality right in the heart of Bangalore, right behind Manipal Hospital! This flat in on the third floor and accessible by an Elevator. The Apartment has only 19 Units, with Generator Backup, Cauvery water & Borewell Water. The Apartment comes with a split AC in one of the Bedrooms. This apartment is just 2 Mins walk away from Manipal Hospital, and easily accessible/walkable to Nilgiris Supermarket and Total Mall on Airport Rd.

The rent of Rs 16,000 is excluding a monthly maintenance of Rs 1000. This monthly maintenance amount is fixed by the Association. The rent is negotiable.

Label/Category specific blogger feeds

2009-04-16T13:02:00.003+05:30

If a blogger blog you read is using labels and also has site feeds enabled, then you can pick and choose which topics you want to subscribe to. The format for label feeds is this:

http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/labelname

Be sure to substitute in the correct blog address for blogname and the label you're interested in for labelname. Also, don't miss the hyphen ("-") in the URL. That's not a typo!

Note that a URL of this form will only work if the blog in question is using this specific label, and has also enabled site feeds. However, no special site feed settings are necessary. As long as the basic site feed for posts is enabled (with either short or full descriptions) then label feeds will also work.

Lok Sabha Elections 2009 & Rule 49-O (No Vote)

2009-04-16T12:27:00.006+05:30

What do you do when all the candidates in your constituency are corrupt/unreliable/thugs/goondas and when you decide not to vote in favor of any of them? Unfortunately there is no such provision in our electoral process and this rule (49-O) is highly misunderstood and misinterpreted!

Rule 49-O is a rule in The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961[1] of India, which governs elections in the country. It describes the procedure to be followed when a valid voter decides not to cast his vote, and decides to record this fact.

WARNING: The apparent purpose of this section is to prevent the election fraud or the misuse of votes.

Checkout this Wikipedia Article and related links to further understand this. As a note of warning, if you ask the electoral officer about this clause and if you disclose the fact that you do not wish to cast your vote you are actually disclosing your secrecy of ballot :-)

Free classifieds for Rustam Bagh residents!

2009-04-04T15:14:00.005+05:30

The Rustam Bagh Tribune, a community website and blog is hosting free classified mainly for Rustam Bagh residents! Outsiders have to pay a very nominal fee of Rs 10.

Rustam Bagh is the best kept secret of Bangalore. This is a thriving community right in the heart of Bangalore, yet untouched by the fast pace of life and pollution. This community is right behind Manipal Hospital, off Old Airport Road.

Plagiarism in the Blogosphere!

2009-04-04T12:08:00.004+05:30

Wikipedia defines plagiarism as, the use or close imitation of the language and ideas of another author and representation of them as one's own original work.

Many of you are aware that i am also the founder and contributor at "The Digital Electronics Blog". This blog happens to be the most influential and is a very prominent part of the semiconductor industry with its intutive articles spanning a wider scope of subjects. This blog has also been recognized by leading industry conferences and design houses.

But what does plagarism has to do in this context? The reason i am pointing this out is, we at "The Digital Electronics Blog" are trying hard to have a positive impact in people's lives terms of semiconductor and electronics knowledge sharing. But there are people in the blogosphere expecially from India who are bent at copying ideas and articles without giving the credit back to us the original authors where needed. In this case we have been affected profoundly and also conspired in negative publicity.

This is a sincere request to the people from india and who are pasrt of the blogging community to avoid the shameful acts described above. I am sure you are exploring ways to make meony online through adsense and stuff but plagiarism is a serious matter and you will surely get affected in the long term.

Madurai Meenakshi Maha Kumbabhishegam

2009-04-03T08:02:00.004+05:30

The Maha Kumbabhishegam is scheduled for April 8th, 2009 between 9:00 AM and 10:00AM.

The sanctum sanctorum of the temple will remain closed from 2.4.2009 to 7.4.2009. However the devotees will be allowed to worship at the yagasala located in the North Aadi street. Archanas and special offerings will not be performed between 8th April and 10th April and only dharshan is allowed.

Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple or Meenakshi Amman Temple' is a historic Hindu temple located in the holy city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva (in the form of Sundareswarar or Beautiful Lord) and his consort, Goddess Parvati (in the form of Meenakshi). The temple forms the heart and lifeline of the 2500 year old city of Madurai. This temple has a stunning architecture and a significant testimony for Vishwakarma Brahmins for their master architecture in sculpting this temple.

Atrocious!

2009-04-01T08:38:00.002+05:30

No prior intimation whatsoever. This is how we work in India.

Addition Desktops in WinXP for free

2009-03-21T21:08:00.003+05:30

DeskHedron is a tool to add and switch between desktops by using a seamless 3D GUI.

At 3D view you can switch the desktop by using the mouse wheel or left and right cursor keys. DeskHedron can organize approximately 9 desktops, and switch the desktops as well. The best part is that it is only 350KB in size and does not require fancy installation or registry intrusion.

Initially 2 desktops are available to switch when starting this utility. If you want to add a new desktop, you'll have to select "Desktop +" from the menu on tray icon by right clicking it. The desktops which are created by this software remain even after you quit the software. When you logoff or restart the PC, the additional desktops will automatically be deleted. When you restart this software without logoff or restart, the software will continue to reuse the desktops which already exits.

Paperwalker

2009-03-21T13:25:00.001+05:30

Character design work, colour palettes, visual development, inspirations and current projects!

Florian Satzinger: A student of the legendary Disney, MGM and Hanna-Barbera animator and animation director Ken Southworth ("Alice In Wonderland", "Woody Woodpecker", "Tom & Jerry", "The Flintstones") who influenced him greatly. At present, he is a production designer, character designer and writer ("StarDucks", "Toby Skybuckle - Adventurer By Mistake", "2Q3 - The Creating Dragons Formula", "The Recalibrated Fantastic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn") at S&H FEATURES.

Productive Dreams

2009-03-19T07:17:00.004+05:30

This is a series with an effort to showcase the works of popular Web designers and Web developers around the world. Please send us an email or comment for us to review and showcase it.

Productive dreams is a popular blog by Gopal from Trivandrum, India and dedicated to Web 2.0, Design and development! It is a rather exceptional attempt to list and publicize development in Wordpress themes.

6GB of Free Music from SXSW '09

2009-03-18T13:58:00.004+05:30

Everybody likes free downloadable Mp3 files and always looking for a whole lot of new, free music?! So here is your chance to download a full 6GB of legit music for free.

The unofficial SXSW 2009 torrent compiles every song freely available on the SXSW Music web site into three multi-gigabyte BitTorrent downloads. So just head over to the SXSW 2009 torrent page and get your download on. It's a great way to get your hands on some legitimate, free, and new music. Direct link to the torrents!

Dying for music but still not sure about this crazy BitTorrent thing? Send me an e-mail!

Eating in the Bus!

2009-03-17T19:22:00.003+05:30

I have never really liked the idea of people eating and drinking inside a public transport. This post is to criticize the people who do it. As many of you may know, this is unlawful in many countries and carries a hefty fine. But unfortunately it is not a law in India and i have reservations about it!

My criticisms about this specific woman in the Bus i traveled in today morning to work. Route# 4U to ITPB, Bangalore, 9:10 AM. The woman apparently from the company, First Indian Corp.(from her ID)

Please avoid eating in public transport!

Wallpapers for your Gadgets

2009-03-17T07:42:00.008+05:30

There is a lot of craze in India these days about the iPhone and its attractive clownfish Wallpaper. So here is my attempt to bring you that wallpaper which you can download and customize!

Clownfish Wallpapers

for iPhone, Nokia, PSP or other Gadgets!

Location: Waterbody somehere

Your comment is our Driving Force!

Disclaimer: Source of these images are unknown as i had downloaded them sometime back!

Finance Spreadsheets

2009-03-16T13:56:00.007+05:30

Use of spreadsheets helps us significantly in automating calculations & budgeting that would otherwise be very cumbersome when done manually.

I am sharing two links to websites that showcase Spreadsheets that are very useful in finance. Many of them may be used in our day-2-day finance planning in calculating liabilities, risk assessments, tax planning, lease estimates to name a few.

Matt H. Evans
Damodaran Online

Please comment if you have more questions!

2009-03-15T22:34:00.000+05:30

Highlights & Updates:
Please checkout my custom updates for photoposts or photoblogs as you may call it, in my previous post. I really appreciate your comments. I would really like to know if this design matches the overall template structure and design!

2009-03-15T16:21:00.031+05:30

Title or Caption

Sub Photo Caption

Location or Source

Brazilian City Makes Food A Basic Right And Ends Hunger

2009-03-15T15:44:00.006+05:30

The city government of Belo Horizonte, Brazil declared that food was a right of citizenship. With a populations of 2.5 million that had 275,000 people living in absolute poverty, and close to 20 percent of its children were going hungry. Click on the Title to read the actual post on Tree Hugger!

Can we make this happen in india? The answer would be yes. But, before we debate about our Governments capabilities or incapabilities and widespread corruption and how we could make this happen in our own land, lets first look at the initiatives taken by that government and let us debate!

The city agency developed dozens of innovations to assure everyone the right to food, especially by weaving together the interests of farmers and consumers. It offered local family farmers dozens of choice spots of public space on which to sell to urban consumers, essentially redistributing retailer mark-ups on produce-which often reached 100 percent-to consumers and the farmers. Farmers' profits grew, since there was no wholesaler taking a cut. And poor people got access to fresh, healthy food.

Three large scale "People's Restaurants" serve healthy meals to 12,000 people a day for the equivalent of $0.50, and innovative school programs ensure that students are well fed.

Belo’s food security initiatives also include extensive community and school gardens as well as nutrition classes. Plus, money the federal government contributes toward school lunches, once spent on processed, corporate food, now buys whole food mostly from local growers.

In just a decade Belo Horizonte cut its infant death rate—widely used as evidence of hunger—by more than half, and today these initiatives benefit almost 40 percent of the city’s 2.5 million population. One six-month period in 1999 saw infant malnutrition in a sample group reduced by 50 percent. And between 1993 and 2002 Belo Horizonte was the only locality in which consumption of fruits and vegetables went up.

You are responsible!

2009-03-14T17:50:00.004+05:30

You are completely and solely responsible for yourself and for everything that happens to you and people around you.

You are where you are, and what you are because of yourself, because you have decided to be there, for the choices you have made. Your life is indeed a result of your own choices and decisions, and you made them, no one else. You can’t escape from the results of your own behavior and choices.

Taking full responsibility puts you back in control of your thoughts and feelings. Instead of looking to others as the reasons for your life, you have to look to yourself. You have to become your own cause, and you create your own effects. You can then make your life whatever you want it to be.

Go for it! And wonderful things will happen to you.

Worried about being Laid Off?

2009-03-13T14:09:00.004+05:30

For many these days, the impending layoffs are inevitable. But if you look at the technical consideration behind a planned layoff, you will notice nothing strange. This article talks about the criteria corporations follow to pick in a layoff situation and talks about ways you can help a person who is already laidoff!

First and foremost: Begin by Ranking yourself with your colleagues from the point of view of your manager or director. Everyone will get a rank between 1 to N, and there will not be ties. Please re-analyze if there is a ties.

While having interacted with many of my friends and managers in the past I can share some insights into how these decisions are typically made in big corporations. You should clearly realize that it is indeed difficult to be on either sides on these exercises as every manager tries to be as objective as he could possibly be.

Typically, every company that is facing large scale layoffs will do a Total review of the team members. The criteria will always include:
1. Earlier Annual performance appraisals which actually plays the primary role.
2. The employee’s qualification in terms of formal educational as well as any special skills critical for the teams success. Extra or unique training that is very relevant to the teams company’s needs always get a superior rank.
3. Value added to the company or team: The bottom line is: How much value is this employee adding to the team or the whole company.
4. Soft skills and overall attitude also matter, but to a very smaller degree.

So what can the employee do? Use the factors described above and rank each person in their own team including themselves as if they were making the layoff decisions. Preferably, do this in Excel and not in our own mind, where you might not be as rigorous. If you end up in the bottom 25% within your small team, you should consider looking for other job opportunities. Don’t wait and try to dodge this wave. There will be others. Also, if you are at risk, the general belief is that it is easier to get another job while you already have one. While doing this exercise, don’t be too harsh or too easy on yourself. Be objective. Ending up in the bottom quartile only means that there are other jobs out there that might be more suitable to your skills.

The following are the ways in which you can help a person who is already laid off...

In India, being laid off is a taboo. Though most of us have thought through some sort of a plan, it will be foolish to think that gone are the days to pretend this is not happening. I personally having gone through that phase in the US during the last recession, it is somewhat familiar to me in the post-layoff days while saying i am not completely immune.

Today there is a generation of us in the indian workforce, totally unfamiliar with layoffs, and totally unfamiliar with the idea that a job is actually 100% insecure.
The good news about this is that there is not a huge difference between someone laid off and someone not laid off in that all of us feel vulnerable, scared and cheated in some ways.

Which also means that some etiquette has to be followed in that it is different than it used to be for talking to someone who’s been laid off.

1. Never ask "how's the job hunt?" Because the job hunt doesn't change much from day to day, but it's far more demoralizing to report that in someones face.
2. Ask about things like hobbies, kids, and their health – all interesting topics to talk about.
3. Talk about the current affairs & industry news in general - Tell the person what you're working on. Trends you're hearing about. Personnel shifts you've seen. Also, gossip counts as news. Workplace gossip is a positive way to bond. Forget what your mom told you about gossip being bad karma. In this case, gossip equals good karma.
4. Offer atleast one good contact - You need not pretend that connecting in LinkedIn or facebook is going to help his cause, because he should have been building the network long before the layoff loomed. But you could offer up one person you know well who could talk with the person.
5. Acknowledge trouble with the significant other - On this is tricky! More men are getting laid off than women, which puts women in a bad spot because most women choose a husband thinking he'll earn more. Today it's a fair game, and even compassionate to acknowledge.
6. Don't be shy of gratitude - Tell a co-worker who’s been laid off that you miss him or her. And what you miss. It's hard to keep up morale when you're looking for a job. And so often we forget what we are talented at because rejection makes us feel totally un-talented.

The Rustam Bagh Tribune: Street Lights

2009-03-13T12:19:00.005+05:30

Update: Some debatable justifiction has been updated on the article. The association is doing a great job but is helpless due to the behaviour of the corporations and useless bureaucracy! The main road is temporarily disowned by the association till the payment is made. Who is to be blamed here? Truthfully, The corporation of Bangalore (BBMP) is responsible. Just yesterday i paid a huge sum as property tax just to walk on a street without lights!

The Rustam Bagh Tribune: Street Lights Some storm is brewing here!!! Same observation i made yesterday while returning back home around 8:00 PM, that the street lights are "Strategically" placed. This needs to be corrected! There is so much security scare here in Rustam Bagh that we need to be proactive not selective like what has happened here during this Election season... Lets be responsible citizens!

Personal branding and how are you identified

2009-03-11T11:09:00.007+05:30

There is a lot of talk about "personal branding" these days due to huge job losses and subsequent rush to career guidance support firms and individuals. By definition the two words are self explanatory but how well are you personal branded is the 1000$ question!

Many of us use social networking websites like Facebook and LinkedIn, mainly to build our business or personal network. The whole idea here is to openup the world of opportunities in a world where it is hard to know people 2 levels down our friends hierarchical network. This is where these social networking sites come to help. Why are we taking about networking far from our immediate freinds or co-workers? The referrals from your networked connections are equally as important as those primary connections themselves. If you have a close-knit network, those people also probably know the same opportunities as you do. But if one of your connections refers you to someone else, you'll likely learn new leads, information or pointers from different people. This is the primary idea.

The only way to be recommended or referred is to be remembered. Does your personal brand pass this basic test? Can others recommend and refer you, based on how well they know who you are and what you do? Here is a simple method that help this excercise..

Make a concise list of keywords for yourself based on your interests, strengths and skills, etc. Now ask some people in your network for the words they associate with your name. If there are a lot of matches, then you've done a good job conveying your personal brand to others. But if there is a disconnect between who you think you are and how others see you, there is some work to be done. Either you are not effectively communicating that brand image or others have noticed characteristics about you that haven't yet been self-identified.

Design changes & modifications!

2009-03-06T16:28:00.005+05:30

Lots of design updates and layout changes in the making!

You will observe that this blog will occasionally spew out nonsense in terms of the layout and design. Please bear with me since the template update for this Blog is my weekend pass-time/project. If you have any suggestions or design ideas please let me know. If your idea is unique and if it gets implemented, you will get this updated Blogger Template for free.

Disclaimer & Legal Agreement

2009-03-03T16:12:00.007+05:30

Please read this "Disclaimer & Legal Agreement" completely and understand it before moving any further on this blog. BY READING THIS BLOG, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

IMPORTANT: You are not authorized to copy and reproduce this disclaimer in any form anywhere!

If you do not agree with the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you should leave this blog immediately. This Agreement may be modified from time to time without prior and post notice. This Agreement supersedes any prior Agreements. The current version applies to your use of this Blog both now and in the past. If you continue to browse this Blog it is understood that you have read this "Disclaimer & Legal Agreement" in full and that have agreed to abide by it.

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Fedora 10 Hacks #3

2009-03-01T13:41:00.002+05:30

Device drivers for my hardware on Fedora 10: Most drivers come standard with all Fedora releases. However, if your driver doesn't come with Fedora, you can see what drivers are available for automatic download.

Many of the packages I mention in here are only available from rpmfusion. To configure your system so that you can install packages from rpmfusion, follow these instructions first:

Become the root:
>su -

Run the following command:
>rpm -Uvh http://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/rpm.livna.org/livna-release-10.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm

Run the following command again:
>yum list akmod-\* \*-drv\* kmod-\* dkms-\*

If you don't find what you need this way, try Googling for:
Fedora NameOfHardware
or:
Linux NameOfHardware

Where NameOfHardware is the normal name of your hardware. If it has more than one name, keep trying different ones until you get a result.

Fedora 10 Hacks #2

2009-03-01T13:35:00.002+05:30

Installing standard Windows fonts in Fedora 10: There is a way to install all of the common Windows fonts in Fedora releases but you don't have to do this on Fedora (because it comes with fonts called the "Liberation" fonts that are the same exact size as the Windows fonts), but if you want to do it, here's how..

Install the chkfontpath package from ATrpms. (Click on either the i386 or x86_64 package, depending on whether you have a 32-bit or 64-bit machine.)

Open a Terminal and become the root by typing the below:
>su -

Download the MS Core Fonts Smart Package File:
>wget http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/msttcorefonts-2.0-1.spec

Make sure that the rpm-build and cabextract packages are installed:
>yum install rpm-build cabextract ttmkfdir

Build the Core Fonts package:
>rpmbuild -ba msttcorefonts-2.0-1.spec

Install the Core Fonts package:
>yum localinstall --nogpgcheck /root/rpmbuild/RPMS/noarch/msttcorefonts-2.0-1.noarch.rpm

Fedora 10 Hacks #1

2009-03-01T13:25:00.002+05:30

Installing Flash plugin in Fedora 10 for Mozilla browsers: This is one of the first questions from beginners on any Fedora release. No problem, you can get it up and running in no time if you follow these simple steps. Leave a comment if you face any issues!!

Run the following commands in order..

Become the root user first.
>su -

Install Adobe repository for YUM
>rpm -Uvh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm

Install the Flash Plugin
yum install flash-plugin nspluginwrapper.{i386,x86_64} pulseaudio-libs.i386 alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i386 libcurl.i386

Configure your browser for the flash plugin
mozilla-plugin-config -i -g -v

Flash support in Fedora 10

2009-02-22T10:50:00.000+05:30

Ever since i installed FC10 on my VAIO PCG GRZ 630 i had problems getting flash to work properly on Firefox. I thought it might be helpful to post my method for getting flash running on Firefox/3.0.1.

The install comes with Firefox with no flash support and the instructions to install flash from Adobe didn’t work out anyway. With the help of google, and about ten different fixes I could finally crack it - I’ve assembled the best of the best for running stable flash on Fedora 10.

So… Without further rants..
From terminal as su... run the following in sequence

> yum install gnash-plugin
> yum install libflashsupport.i386 nspluginwrapper.i386 -y
> yum install flash-plugin -y

Make sure everything is setup right with:

> mozilla-plugin-config -i -g -v

Restart your browser.
Enjoy Flash on Fedora 10.

Do post a comment here if you have any issues...

John Denver

2009-02-22T10:48:00.000+05:30

Music Streaming

The best songs i have heard in years....

1. Country roads take me home.mp3 (128 kbit 03:03 mins) 2.79 mb
2. Follow me.mp3 (128 kbit 02:48 mins) 2.56 mb
3. Good bye again.mp3 (128 kbit 03:33 mins) 3.26 mb
4. Leaving on a jet plane.mp3 (128 kbit 03:55 mins) 3.58 mb
5. Rhymes and reasons.mp3 (128 kbit 03:07 mins) 2.85 mb
6. Rocky mountain high.mp3 (128 kbit 04:35 mins) 4.20 mb
7. Starwood in aspen.mp3 (128 kbit 03:07 mins) 2.85 mb
8. Sunshine on my shoulders.mp3 (128 kbit 05:03 mins) 4.62 mb

Listen @ http://murugavel.homeip.net

Home Webserver

2009-02-22T10:42:00.001+05:30

It seems like everybody is blogging and sharing digital photos online. This booming hobby (and business) sends many people to paid hosting companies to share their thoughts and images.

Though many companies are reliable and inexpensive, with a little work and some relatively cheap hardware you can host your own files, save some money, and have complete control over what services are available and how your content is displayed.

Link: http://www.redhat.com/magazine/022aug06/features/webserver/

No better time to Blog!

2009-02-22T10:31:00.003+05:30

After years of Technical Blogging, being confined to my area of work and not being able to think beyond semiconductors and chips i have reached a point where i can and i am exploring my other interests in Photography & Web Technologies while still carrying on with my passion in Electronics and related Technologies.

My decision to pursue these other interests are mainly spurred by what the global economy has bought us into, the reality & insecurity of the Semiconductors & Information Technology industry, unfriendly environments in workplaces, work pressures arising out of these uncertainties and a constant urge to achieve something on my own has constantly triggered a more frequent emotional war of thoughts within me.

As a matter of fact, as i am wring this post i begin to realize that i have never thought so much in regard to my other interests nor written a non-technical article of this magnitude. I really hope to carry on like this.

I had predicted last October that the financial crisis in the united states could spur a possible boom in the Internet usage and applications world over. This prediction was mainly due to the fact that the financial meltdown has come at a time when India and china had already set the bases in web technologies and its citizens had the opportunity and the willingness to try out new things using the Internet. Some of these include an exponential growth in websites catering to social networking and e-business.

Couple of years ago, Internet was mainly confined to US, Parts of Europe and handful of other developed nations. But today India and China are racing towards a bigger world order where the balance is fair. Today the # of people doing business and shopping online ,specifically in china and India have touched new highs. This has created new scope for businesses and business models where the reach is far and wide. Significant % of people around the world today are up to date with technology and Internet usage had gone up significantly even in places of remote Africa.

Blogging and social networking is today's youth mantra and is having a huge impact on an individuals life in every aspect and day-2-day situations. Today people express themselves in numerous ways and the primary platform for doing that is a Blog. Either be it cooking or a specific profession, blogging has grown big since it all started in 2001. It is just not limited to the web traffic where people are looking for specific information or just another casual read but imagine the revolution spurred by Google in the way Internet is used. The opportunity for an individual to make a dime out of the web is so attractive and easy looking that today you will hardly see a blog without AdSense, the award winning Google advertising program.

So what are you waiting for....
Think about a topic and start writing. But be regular in posting to your blog.
May be you will be a celebrity in the next decade :-)

Hello World!

2009-02-22T08:40:00.000+05:30

Here i come!