Eclipse 3.1 released

Eclipse has just gone 3.1. In their usual style they have released a new and noteworthy for all to oggle at :) It can be downloaded here.

There's also a million download challenge going on. Do participate!

Internet Blackout in Pakistan?

Pakistan is currently facing a internet blackout it seems. CNN Reports that an undersea cable carrying data between the country and outside world has developed a serious fault causing all data feeds to go down.

"It's a total disaster," said Nasir Ali, commercial director of the private Air Blue airline. "We have a Web-based booking system which has totally collapsed."

Google does earth!

After the hugely successful google maps, here's a step further - google earth! Whats the first thing i would like to see ? Why, India - of course!

It reminds me of the historic words of one of the first Indians in space, Rakesh sharma. When asked by the then prime minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi "What does India look like from in space?", he promptly replied (in Hindi) "Saare jaaha se accha hindostaan humaara" (translation: there's no other place like hindustan).

Check out the google tour of some of the famous places (in the US and Europe, of course). However, for us asians the dream of seeing the Taj Mahal, Great wall of china and even the lush coasts of konkan will remain a distant dream - for a time atleast.

And yes, for those of us with dial-up connections - its going to be looooong wait for the data to download.

Update: My maps of Indian places of interest on google earth

Filed in: Google India Earth maps geo satellite imaging geography world bharat india hindustan rakesh sharma indira gandhi

GreaseMonkey and Technocrati Tags

I just found a new way to automate creating technocrati tags within the blogger post creator screen. How? Simple! use Firefox, add a greasemonkey plugin and install a user script - its that simple!

Making my presence felt in Technocrati

I am trying to get my blog presence felt on technocrati. This blog represents opinion, rants, collection of any goodies or just about anything techie that interests me.

I have also put up a personal blog - googling thoughts as well as a digital photography blog.

A Look at various Linux Distros

Here's an article that offers some basic information about the various distro's (that's techie speak for 'distributions' or 'brands', if you like) of Linux that are popular. I found a lot of interesting facts that i didnt know in the past. Recommended for both new comer and experienced users alike.

Article: Beginners Guide to Linux Distro's - by Tipmonkies.com

Google Scholar not that scholastic?

Here's a review on google scholar by Thomson gale . Here's an extract that will give you an idea of what the verdict is:

Google Scholar is muddying the water and makes its hit numbers and citedness scores even less reliable by this mixing. It is as if the bartender put not only tonic in your gin, but also the peanuts. You may ask your bartender to do it again without mixing, but in Google Scholar this is the mandatory way.

and

My usual techniques to get some details about databases don't work here because of the serious limitations of the software and of its disregard for common practices and conventions.

Filed in: google scholar google+scholar limitations study comparison

How does a bat suit work

I picked up this interesting article on howstuffworks.com about how batmans suit works. Quite cool. I have always been a batman fan from the comic days.

Thanks slashdot for pointing me to it.

Article: Ajax on rails

Here's a nice article on using the new rage - Ajax in your web applications from O'Reilly Onlamp.com