If you are a regular visitor and you are wondering why we are unactive, then the answer is WE AREN’T!!! We have shifted now. The new site is Cognoscis.com. I asked Anoop (Cognoscis) to post it here..but no! Will he listen? Nopes! So I picked up my pen (keyboard) and now hope you all come over there. Thanks!!!

First of, this may not be the fastest supercomputer, but it is the fastest “reconfigurable” supercomputer as claimed by the designer of University of Florida where Novo-G became functional this week. The first term in the name is said to be from the Latin term for “make anew, change, alter,” and the second from “G” for “genesis.” Anyway, what does this reconfigurable computer mean?

The traditional computers or supercomputer are fixed-logic computers where the circuitry of the system is fixed. Meaning, if you design such a computer to perform a specific task, it can do only that with high efficiency. Any other task given will require more time and power. For example, a Digital Signal Processor is efficient when it comes to signal processing, where as it is not that efficient in bit-level manipulation. But, the reconfigurable computer can change its hardware to suit the specific operation at hand. In that way, its kind of a bridge between a general purpose processor (Like the micro processors) and the specific and special purpose processor (DSP). The catch here is that it is highly complex but it is 10-100 times more faster than other supercomputers of the same size. This is a really great advancement in terms of computing. This promises that the future reconfigurable systems will be much faster.

Alan George, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of UF’s National Science Foundation Center for High-Performance Reconfigurable Computing says, “We don’t want this important technology to be accessible only to experts”. To speculate, will such computers make their way to our homes? Only the future can tell. The news article can be found here

I was just watching Michael Jackson’s performance of famous song “Billie Jean” on Youtube in HD. And I was thinking “HD is so cool. Wish there was a way to download HD videos.”

So I found a quite a few softwares on that. But it had to be online. I hate cluttering my PC with so many useless softwares. Soon, I found a cool website to download youtube videos in different formats. Not only youtube, it supposts sites like Metacafe, facebook, MegaVideo, break.com, Spike, and Myspace.

All you need to do is go to Keep-tube.com and paste your youtube video URL there.

Now you have 5 options.

1. Download the video in the regular low quality FLV format.
2. Download the video in the high quality FLV format.
3. Download the video in 3GP format for your mobile phone.
4. Download the HQ video in MP4 format.
5. Download the video in HD (also MP4), if the video is uploaded in HD that is.

The HD video is quite a large file. Like atleast 50 mb for a music video. But the quality is awesome.

Another simple way to download the videos is just adding “keep-” before youtube.com while watching the video. You will be redirected to Keep-tube. They also have a Firefox add-on. Or, you can create a bookmark (favourites) and click on that while watching a video. It is better explained here.

Kingston has launched a new pen drive “Kingston DataTraveler 300 USB Flash Drive”.  It is said to be the world’s first 256 GB pendrive. With the amount of data being carried around increasing and the size of the semiconductor devices shrinking, this is just part of the data revolution that began with a 256 MB pen drive. Since the amount of data that will be stored is high, it can be protected using the privacy zone that is password protected using the Password Traveler privacy software. Capacity without speed is useless if you ask me, but DataTraveler 300 provides a speed of 20 MB/sec for read and 10 MB/sec for write. This is pretty good speed and lets you play high quality movies directly from the pen drive (which ultimately most people will want ).

The specs as given by the manufacturer are thus. They can be found here also

Features/Specifications:

• Capacity¹ — 256GB
• Fast — data transfer rates of up to 20MB/sec. read and 10 MB/sec. write²
• Dimensions — 2.78″ x 0.88″ x 0.65″ (70.68mm x 22.37 mm x 16.45mm)
• Operating Temperature — 32° to 140° F (0° to 60° C)
• Storage Temperature — -4° to 185° F (-20° to 85° C)
• Simple — just plug into a USB port
• Practical — durable, capless design
• Guaranteed — five-year warranty
• Safeguarded — includes Password Traveler security software for Windows

The Password Traveler security software does not work on Mac and Linux as specified on the website. The product comes with a five years warranty. Now for the most important question, how much does it cost? Well,  to give you a range, it might cost you somewhere between Rs. 43,ooo ($900) to Rs. 52,000 ($1000) depending on the reseller. Kingston says that they are releasing it in Far East, Europe, Middle East & Africa only. Anyway, I think the prices will drop drastically when the competitors start to release their products of similar capacity. Hopefully next year we will see bigger and faster drives for far cheaper price

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Great digital face fromes for your photos

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The most popular video broadcasting website which already allows users to upload true HD videos has just achieved another milestone. Google is well know for letting its employees explore their own projects to promote creativity. As a result of the same, one of its employee, YouTube Pete (His display name on support forum) has developed this cool feature in his granted project time. To upload the video, he suggests to upload the videos in crosseyed. But even if the video is in parallel mode, you can always add the tag yt3d:swap=true this will make sure that the it will work correctly. He has also given two more tags that can be used in the tags area while uploading

yt3d:enable=true Enables the view mode. (obviously you’ve already discovered this)

yt3d:aspect=3:4 Sets the aspect of the encoded video.

Also, to fix up the old videos, there is a tag that lets the uploader to set the exact cordinates for both, left and right sources. An example he gives is yt3d:left=0_0.1_0.5_0.9 and yt3d:right=0.5_0.1_1_0.9 where the numbers are of the form x_y_z representing the exact co-ordinate. Since this is his side project, he says the fixing of the bugs will take some time. For example, the above mentioned anaglyph bug makes it confusing for the uploader regarding the stacking of the left and right views. None-the-less, the viewer can watch the videos in many different modes by selecting them from the drop down menu just below the video screen.

3D video in crosseyed mode

There are many videos already on youtube that can be viewed in 3D. As shown above, you can view them in different modes. I do not have 3D glasses  right now on me. So, I just used the cross-eyed mode and viewed the video with my eyes crossed. What you need to do is this, cross your eyes (Meaning bring them towards each other) while looking at the video. During this, there will be a time when the left and right videos will co-incide. Stop at that point and try to focus on it. If you are not getting it, you can try this first by drawing two points (thick) 10 cm apart on a white sheet and try to see them as a single point in the same way as above. Then you can shift to the video. This will make the video appear 3D. But of course, this will become irritating after some time . So, the best way is to watch it using the 3D glasses and the anaglyph mode. You can buy one as the videos are going to increase anyways. Or, you can make one yourself. Its quite easy and explained on many websites. For your convinience I will be putting up the procedure here.

Material needed:

• Cardboard – For the frame
• Cello tape or glue
• Glass papers Red and blue. Also called acetate sheets usually available in the shops where you buy art supplies. or you can use transparent plastic sheets and colour on them. Make sure the plastic is sufficiently thick. As thick as 5 pages of a good book.

Stencil for the glasses

Procedure:

First cut the cardboard in the shape of the 3D glasses. I have uploaded an image that can be used as reference. The small squares need to be made hollow on which the blue and red plastic will sit.

Next cut the glass papers a little bigger that the square holes that you made. Stick the red paper on the LEFT (It must come on your left EYE) and the blue on the right. Then stick the entire frame together. Thats it you are done and ready to watch the 3D videos using the colour modes (anaglyph) from the menu. Try with different colours and choose the best one.

Note: You can also use the CD case which is essentially transparent plastic. If you can cut it into squares and fix it on the above stencils then good. Later you can colour them with permanent markers. Else, you can use the above frame that you cut as stencil and colour directly on the case itself and use it to watch the video (For the lazy people ). Anyhow, do check them out and enjoy.

When planning a trip you would want to know how far the destination is, how to get there exactly and be sure not to miss the turn. So, you can get a GPS device and install in your car. But, if you don’t have a GPS device, then you will consult the map. Here is an amazing site that simplifies your work of getting directions. Fresh Logic Studios is a site that allows you to find directions in a very easy manner. Also, you don’t have to sign up with them to use this service. In the homepage, click on atlas where it takes you to a world atlas. This is simillar to the Google maps but it is more interactive. Of course, it must still update a lot for India, but you have enough locations to use this service. When you are on the atlas page, there will be a menu on the top with options such as directions, tools, etc.. Click on directions and a box will open up on the left side. This is where you enter the location. As shown in the snap below, I have entered Bangalore  and a lesser known location called “Sagar”. There are two sagars and the app will ask you to choose which one. After that click get directions and you will get the detailed directions with where to make the turns and the distance (in miles) and estimated time to reach that location. You can zoom in and see and also print this on a paper with the print option shown in the red circle be on the third snap. Cool isn’t it?

Not only that, the basic menu also has the find location to find any location in the city. But it still needs to update its database. Although it shows the roads, it cannot show it in the atlas, it can show it on the satellite images. This can be enabled from the satellite menu in the right corner below the top menu. Refer the 4th image in the gallery for this. There are more options in the advanced tab as well. The events option will list the events that will be happening in the city. It works only for major cities. I tired Bangalore and got quite a few results. Click on the one you want and a new box opens up giving a little details. To know more just click event in this new box and it will open the relevant site. Really nice tool. The rest of the options still need updating. But the site is really cool and is functional for the Western countries. Also, on signing up you will get 1 GB space to store your files and you can make friends and update your location on the atlas. Also, there is the experimental section where the users’ tweets are displayed real time. Do check it out.

The following is an essay written by Albert Einstein in which talks about his ideas and beliefs about life. Read on

“How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people — first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving…

“I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves — this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts — possessions, outward success, luxury — have always seemed to me contemptible.

“My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a ‘lone traveler’ and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude…”

“My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-beings, through no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand the few ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle. I am quite aware that for any organization to reach its goals, one man must do the thinking and directing and generally bear the responsibility. But the led must not be coerced, they must be able to choose their leader. In my opinion, an autocratic system of coercion soon degenerates; force attracts men of low morality… The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.

“This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor… This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism — how passionately I hate them!

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery — even if mixed with fear — that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man… I am satisfied with the mystery of life’s eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence — as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.”

Source : Center for History of Physics

So, you have heard about the whole global warming and carbon emitting thing. I was recently browsing and came  across this site called footprint network that talks about the issue. There is something called foot print calculator that caught my eyes. Click here to open the site. Footprint, or more precisely “carbon footprint” is the total amount of greenhouse gas (Carbon oxides) emitted by you. So, by knowing the amount of these gases that we emit, we can try and device the methods to reduce it. It is not necessary that you have to be directly responsible for emitting the carbon by riding a bike or lighting a fire. You can be indirectly doing it when you use electricity coming from burning coal or using water that is pumped using the electricity that is due to burning of coal. So, this site takes all that into account and tries to estimate how much your footprint is. Its a flash application and will take some time to load (Worth the wait). There are currently only 3 countries that are added to this. But that shouldn’t stop you from taking the test. Basically it will give you a rough estimate of how much your footprint is. There are two tests, faster one and a more detailed one. A series of questions will be asked regarding your lifestyle and based on that and the other data available to it, it will give you your personal ecological footprint. Along with the results, it will give you some pointers as to what you can do to reduce your footprint. Really good site, must have a look

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Be Funky – Photo Effects with one click

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