misc

Haath Baalo'n Me Phere Tou Main So Jao'n Ga,
Koi Qissa Wo Sunaye Tou Main So Jao'n Ga,
Us Se Kehna K Mujhy Neend Nahi Aati,
Apni Banho'n Mein Sulaye Tou Main So Jao'n Ga,
Meri Palko'n Pe Sajey Hyn Kaii Raato'n Se Diye,
Koi Palko'n Se Bhujaye Tou Main So Jao'n Ga.
Aakhri Saans Mujhy Mauqa De De Ye Zra ,
Mera Wada Hy K Wo Aaye Tou Main So Jao'n Ga.
Baad Ki Baad Mein Dekhe'n Ge Us Se Kaho,
Aaj Ki Raat Na Jaye Tou Main So Jao'n Ga...

via the interwebs.

3 (b) No Conflicting Uses. You may not use the Flixster API to develop (or instruct any third party to develop) a service that may reasonably be deemed to be directly competitive with Flixster’s products and services, unless you have been specifically permitted to do so in a separate written agreement with Flixster prior to the undertaking of the development and launch of such service.

Dear Rotten Tomatoes, what's the point of launching these APIs then?

I'm on love with The Sixty One for the past one month. The layout & presentation, the indie music - its all very smooth and nicely done. No matter which section of site you visit or what link you click, the music keeps playing on. Give it a try!

A usual dilemma before starting a Rails project: Rails (Well known, well documented api, blogs, books) or Merb (Speed, Lean core, fresh framework, alternative ORMs). Today Rails and Merb core team announced their decision to merge into what would be known as Rails 3. Its a good thing since people would stop writing blogs about Rails vs Merb, and talk more about getting things done. I'm looking forward to a faster and less memory hogging version Rails.

I've been using Tata Indicom's data card based internet services for the past 2 years or so. and my experience about the internet service quality has been above satisfaction so far. After filling up the application form, and paying 4990 INR upfront for the data card, i got the card delivered at home in 2 days. Pretty fast indeed.

Data card connectivity speed: The Huawei EC321 CDMA card is rated for about 156Kbps. Initially at the place where i used to live, i used to get about 140 Kbps speed without fiddling too much with the antenna and direction. At my current residence too, i manage about the same speeds, which is more than enough for my email and IRC applications

Setup and installation: The data card comes as a PCMCIA device which can be plugged onto the PCMCIA slot of your laptop. Its probably straightforward to install it in Windows. There's a desktop manager application included in the installation CD with puts a dialer-cum-sms inbox checking app shortcut on the desktop. Getting the internet working on linux is even easier. Check how to get the data card running with wvdial here.

Tariff plans: The data card costed me around 4990 INR some 2 years back. It should be cheaper now. The USB pen drive shaped Plug2Surf ones are definitely cheaper. I am under 1GB plan which costs me less than 800 INR per month with taxes included, as i never cross my 1GB limit.

Network coverage and roaming: Its based on Tata Indicom's CDMA network, so internet services work wherever there's tata indicom's mobile phone network. So far, it has worked for me in all the cities i've traveled in india. There are no charges on national roaming if you are using the data card only for internet services.

Verdict?: Its a good gadget to keep along if you are traveling. Internet works just out of the box, without having to ask anyone for network access or proxy authentications. I haven't used data card services from Reliance or Airtel, but i dont really have a reason to switch services as yet. Lately there have been days when the internet is pathetically slow but then it comes back again.

Where to buy?: You can visit their website ichoose.in and place an order. If you are in Mumbai then let me know, i can pass over the contact information of their sales representative and he'll take care of the rest. My email address is anurag (@) gnuer.org

Railways is running in profits since last couple of years and the feel good feeling is coming soon to Indian Railways website too. The recent tender notification from IR attracted almost everyone from the industry to apply for tender and profit! With TCS/CMC, Accenture, SISL India, Satyam, Wipro, Infosys, BEA, Broad Vision, IBM, HCL, DELL, HP and of course Microsoft applying for the tender and planning to use technologies as diverse as TIBCO, Biometrics and BS 7799 compliance - this surely is going to be a major face lift to Indian Railways.

Got a chance to watch Das Leben der Anderen. Story is set in East Germany, around and before the fall of Berlin Wall about how the Stasi agents used to control the private lives of people. Very well made movie i must say. It reaffirms the human ability to do the right thing, no matter how much wrong has already been done.

There was a time when i used to have a watch, a bedside alarm clock, deskside calendar, el-cheapo calculator, a camera, a paper address book. And i was planning to buy a digital diary too.

Now i just use my cell phone to do all that. Wonder which other daily life gadget is the cellphone going to replace.

Looking for a cheap VPS provider? Head over to http://www.vpslink.com and signup for a plan starting from 64MB. Server uptime, bandwidth, pricing and customer service, everything has been reasonable for the past 6 months.

today morning i went to Siddhivinayak temple after couple of years. the whole outlook of temple has changed drastically in the past few years.

now there are walls, cops, metal detectors, snifer dogs all around... if you dont want to stand in loooong queues then you can get yourself silver or gold entry passes, or you can make a donation - which enables you a direct entry into temple... or if you are female, you can stand in the shorter ladies-only queue.

for the rest of us, well we can always stand in the general queue by which you get to enter the temple in 4 hours..