Tech Chutney!!!

Moved!!

2011-06-03T18:20:00.002+05:30

Hi
This blog has been moved to shubhamgoel.me
Cheers
Shubham

Beginnings: The story of Art of Living

2010-12-13T05:42:00.004+05:30

AutoCAD awesomeness now for mac

2010-10-18T07:43:00.004+05:30

Finally after 18 years of waiting Autodesk returns to mac and launches their flagship software autocad for mac. Autodesk is also coming to iPad and the iPhone. What more could I ask for.

via: http://hightechhistory.com/2010/08/31/autodesk-reintroduces-autocad-for-the-mac/

Status update:

2010-10-17T02:21:00.000+05:30

The toilet story

2010-09-15T13:49:00.003+05:30

Three engineers were in the bathroom standing at the urinals. The

first engineer finished and walked over to the sink to wash his hands.

He then proceeded to dry his hands very carefully. He used paper towel

after paper towel and ensured that every single spot of water on his

hands was dried. Turning to the other two engineers, he said, "At Microsoft, we are trained to be extremely thorough."

The second engineer finished his task at the urinal and he proceeded to

wash his hands. He used a single paper towel and made sure that he dried

his hands using every available portion of the paper towel. He turned and

said, "At Linux (Gentoo), not only are we trained to be extremely thorough,

but we are also trained to be extremely efficient."

The third engineer finished and walked straight for the door, shouting over

his shoulder, "At Apple Computer, Inc. we don't pee on our hands."

10 useful command line tips for the mac user

2010-09-07T04:14:00.001+05:30

http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/10-terminal-commands-that-will-boost-your-productivity/
folks starting out with linux might find some commands useful.

Evon: Easy video converting tool

2010-08-25T03:59:00.002+05:30

Converting video from one format to another has always been a thing for the geeks. Even the tools were intimidating for day to day users. Mac and iphone users have to convert videos every now and them to put them in their itunes library or sync them to the phone. Evon is a nifty little app with a drag and drop interface for converting video formats. Get it from:

http://thelittleappfactory.com/evom/

Its completely free.

A first attempt to capture the lightening

2010-07-06T04:17:00.003+05:30

These have been clicked from the faculty building top with a Canon EOS500D with a tripod. They are long exposure shots (20s) with low aperture (5.0).

KETCHUP TASTING

2010-05-30T07:06:00.001+05:30

As we strolled through the campus of Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) (www.iitk.ac.in) this chipmunk catches our eye. He casually strolls out of his bed (read: climb downs his tree) and heads over to the cafe for some early morning wakeup drink (read: goes and drinks ketchup from a bottle which has been unintentionally left outside by the cafe manager).

IITK is a place where flora and fauna coexists with their bipedal brothers. Peacocks and a whole plethora of bird species can be seen yodeling, doodling, pecking, munching and making out :)

MOMS new Icon

2010-05-24T12:11:00.004+05:30

Icon

Last night we designed a logo for the Indian Railways project we have been working on. The project has been code named MOMS which stands for MEMS based oscillation measuring device. Its a very cool concept that was incepted right here in our Mechanical Engineering Dept last year. It uses sensors to detect faults in the railway tracks and then plots them onto a map on a small screen device for easy repair. Once this cost effective solution is implemented repairing and monitoring railway tracks could be done in a jiffy.

The Nainital Retreat

2010-05-21T22:47:00.006+05:30

I had been looking for a way to beat the heat and as some would say "max chill out!!". Finally I found a Art of Living advance course happening in Nainital. Its the perfect opportunity for a get away.

The details of the course are:

Dates:

Reporting: 15th July, 2010 (12:00 pm onwards; lunch will be provided)

Departure: 19th July, 2010 (by 3pm)

Venue: The Naini Retreat, Near High Court, Mallital, Nainital

Eligibility: Art of Living Part I Course

Nanital is where I did my first AOL advance course and it was quite an experience. For the fist time in my life I wondered why I felt like smiling all the time and if the feeling of making a difference is something shared by every soul on the planet. After the course it felt like I slept through most meditation exercises and wasn't cut out for it. But the very day the course ended I felt more aware and creative. I was beaming with ideas and was slighter better at every thing I did. It took me three more courses and four more years to understand the value of what I had learn't in that course. Since then I have decided to do one every year. This past year has been full of challenges and surprises and I can't wait to hop on to the narrow gauge train to Nainital.

About Naini Retreat:

Once the residence of Maharaja of Pilibhit, The Claridges Naini Retreat, one of the finest hotels in Nainital has a majestic building exuding an 'Old World Charm’ that houses the most modern luxuries you could ask for. Just 1 km from the mall, The Claridges Naini Retreat is situated on the picturesque Ayarpatta Slopes overlooking the Naini Lake. It provides a breathtaking view at an altitude of 1995 metres.

If you are even remotely tempted to come along give me a call. I'll be booking my tickets by May end.

Day of the broken iPhones

2010-05-06T14:56:00.004+05:30

Yesterday was the day of the roken iPhones. Early morning Kshitij's iPhone got shattered as it dropped face down F L A T on the ground. There was no sound and after 5 secs melancholic vapors started spreading though out the lab.... After a few hours another student working at the same spot dropped and shattered his phone :)

Untethered jailbreak for all!!! iPhones, iPod and the iPad

2010-05-03T15:42:00.002+05:30

The first untethered jailbreak has been released for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad running any version, be it 3.1.3 or 3.2.

Get it from

http://spiritjb.com/

Jugnu featured in India Today

2010-04-29T17:56:00.005+05:30

Jugnu, the IIT Kanpur nano satellite has been featured in India Today. It is one of the most innovative projects in Science and Technology happening in India. Work on Jugnu started last year and is a very ambitious project. Jugnu is a satellite which would orbit the earth like other satellites, but what makes it special is that it weighs slightly over 3.5kgs and leverages on the latest technologies. Conventional satellites weigh over 100kgs and the cost of putting them into space is high because of the added weight. Jugnu will be India's first Nano Satellite.

The India Today article:

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/93167/Cover%20Story/Small+wonder.html

Designing great iPhone apps

2010-04-11T04:56:00.004+05:30

Xcode

Some nice videos related to iPhone application design development can be downloaded from the link

http://www.torrentroom.com/torrent/2560593-WWDC-2009-iPhone-Session-Videos-100-132.html

check out these videos:

Session 128 - Prototyping iPhone User Interfaces

Session 100 - iPhone User Interface Design

These are videos from the World Wide Developer Conference 09, San Francisco. The videos give an insight into internal design processes of Apple Software Devision

Some more videos on designing apps for the iPhone (mobile platform)

How to build apps that don't suck (Stanford iTunesU)

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/FeedEnclosure/itunes.stanford.edu.2024353965.02024353968.2117035884/enclosure.mp4

Lessons learnt in the first year of an iPhone company (Stanford iTunesU)

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/FeedEnclosure/itunes.stanford.edu.2024353965.02024353968.2134836854/enclosure.mp4

I'll share more resources as I come accross them. Write to me if you are looking from something more specific.

Cheers

Shubham

Android... Maps 4.1

2010-03-21T05:41:00.003+05:30

Android home screen

When I read about the new version of maps (4.1) on android I got really excited cause it has integrated features like live wallpapers and including google latitude. The really wanted to try it out so I got the emulator running and here are some screen shots.

Live wallpaper with maps as background

The emulator does not come with the maps app and the market app by default so they have to be installed separately. I was able to install the maps app by pointing my browser to the required .apk file I still han't been able to get the market running.

Live wallpaper setting screen

Link to Google Maps 4.1 apk file: http://upblog.org/google-maps-4-1-apk/

Augmented Reality: Image Markers

2010-02-17T22:31:00.005+05:30

Today I have been playing with image markers for creating virtual 3d objects in the augmented space and its the coolest technology ever. Its a exciting new technology and the best way to understand it is to play with it. So head over to http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/augmented_reality for a demo. You'll need to take a print out and a computer with a webcam. If you dont happen to have all that check out the video below and get a feel of the technology.

Another great site which has a software for virtualizing famous monuments on the face of the planet is: http://www.arsights.com/

Follow the instructions on their site and view the Taj Mahal to the Eiffel Tower in 3d.

The Taj Mahal on my desk.

Another cool implementation is on Toyota's site.

http://www.toyota.co.uk/cgi-bin/toyota/bv/frame_start.jsp?id=iQ_reality

BMW also made a small little game where you can create life size BMWs to miniature ones and race them along like toy cars.

http://www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/augmented_reality/homepage?bcsource=vanity

A BMW in my hands

That all for now..

I'll be posting more examples and sample code as I go along.

Branding India

2010-02-04T01:13:00.002+05:30

Just finished reading Branding India. Excellent book about the Incredible India campaign and about the growing tourism in India. It talks about the trends and practices that have been set up to make sustainable tourism a possibility in the country and what more we need to do to keep this wave alive.

iPad Camera?

2010-01-28T04:49:00.004+05:30

iPad

Apple iPad was launched today and its an awesome device. Now, some of the questions on my mind are.. can I actually use it as a desktop and phone replacement. i.e PenDrive support? Camera?

After playing around with the SDK I saw an option to click and add photographs to contacts. Hidden hints from Apple may be??

Screen shots of the iPad Simulator

For USB Pen drive support the iPad Camera Connection Kit seems to be very promising.

IITK: New lIght

2010-01-27T13:48:00.004+05:30

Chao

2009-12-06T19:39:00.005+05:30

Check out the new Mac app Chao

It activates the screen saver and announces it. It feels very cool when I log off my comp. I use it in conduction with spark, which allows me to launch it with a keyboard shortcut. You can download Chao vr 1.0 from

http://files.me.com/shubhamgoel/kn0s55

and I would be happy to hear your feedback and suggestions.

Ubiquity

2009-10-24T06:58:00.007+05:30

Ubiquity is the coolest firefox plugin yet. It allows you to give commands to firefox in normal english to look for directions, update twitter, insert maps in mails and much much more.

I also wrote a small plugin for ubiquity which allows you to look up words at Definr.com, my favorite dictionary site. You can get it here: http://gist.github.com/217297

The New iMac and other new apple hardware look look like computer renderings

2009-10-21T20:03:00.005+05:30

I just looked at the new products from Apple and they are terrific. The iMac now has edge to edge glass and comes in 27 inchs!!!. Its a real power house with quard core processors and support for 16gb ram. When I first heard that it came with a multi touch mouse I knew we finally had a absolutely fantastic pointing device, which takes the best from both the worlds. As the story goes, first came the keyboard, then the mouse and then the iPhone, in my opinion the touch mouse is definitely a critical member of this chain of evolution. Though I would love to see the Sixth Sense device by Pranav Mistry as the successor.

The macbook, most affordable mac ever is now very slick. With a unibody and 7 hr battery back up it is definitely the best mac for college students. And one more thing.. the mac remote has also been updated :)

upgraded and jailbroken.... my iPhone

2009-10-13T00:04:00.003+05:30

Blackra1n

Jailbreaked iPhone 3.1.2 with blackra1n. Geohot is great.

the iPhone

The video that dosn't load

2009-10-08T23:28:00.004+05:30

Even on a 16mbps connection this video takes over 6 mins to load. Check it out.
If you can figure out why leave a comment :)

Bangalore get away

2009-08-30T03:13:00.005+05:30

One fine Saturday morning after a sleep less night I was wondering what to do over the week end. I was walking around in my apartment and saw Celebrating Silence lying on the shelf. Within a fraction of a second I knew I was going to Bangalore. I called up Bhaskar, found out that Guruji was in town, packed my bag in 5 mins and rushed to the airport.
4hrs later the cool invigorating breeze was telling me I was in Bangalore.

On my way to Guru Bhaiya's place I managed to stop at an Apple store, exchange a few tips with the specialist and buy a sports strap for my iPhone.

Its always a euphoric experience to be at Guru Bhiaya's place. The whole environment in the house is very satvik and beaming with energy. Guru bhaiya is always upto something new and exciting. We share a common passion for OOPS(object oriented programming) and Batman. He has combined his talent in music and computer programming and invented things unheard of in the music industry. Aunty (Guru bhaiya's mom) makes great food, attends parties back to back and is always in a fun mood. Archna di has also has a keen interest in music and loves photography. Nothing can stop her if she has a camera in her hand.Later that day I went to the Ashram (Art of Living Bangalore center which we loving call Ashram) and the next day again. I stood in a crowd, got elbowed a few times but it was a pleasure to see him (H H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar). He was as jovial as ever. The Teachers' training course had just finished and I got a change to meet some old friends cum new teachers. I felt very proud of them.
We celebrated Bhaskar's (the one in the orange kurta and with the icing on his face) birthday in the Ashram. The best butter scotch cake I ever had.

Mumbai... ye mera india

2009-08-21T02:02:00.006+05:30

Office

Its been almost a month and a half here and already I don't want to move away... I am loving every bit of it. Actually its the rain that keeps bring me back to my center and every time it happens I get lost.

The Powai Lake. I want to say that its magnificent but the remarkably motivated working class of mumbai hardly has time to clean up the trash they have generously donated to the lake over the years. I guess its time for us to take an action. May be the next YES!+ project. :)

Come back.... Come back to where you once belonged

2009-07-30T01:48:00.007+05:30

Thats the song that comes to my head when I think of my alma mater...

Research@LibrarySkating... My national timpass

The end of my masters was a crazy time... I learn't that research couldn't be accelerated beyond a certain rate and then I started moving faster than that :)... I had started photography again with my introduction to the Canon 500D. Every now and then I would go out for skating too.
FacB (Faculty Building) roof top had become a regular wee hrs hangout spot.

Even with all the time crunch sleep was the only thing I was budgeting on. Visits to the bowling alley and to the coffee shop were prioritized. When Priyesh and Prachi came over we went to the Landmark hotel with Neharika to show off my exemplary driving skills. People there got to witness such awesomeness that they had to be sworn to secrecy.

The Mai Hu DON walk@ Landmark (From Left: Neharika, Priyesh(Chotu), Prachi)

FacB Roof Top 2am (From Left: Tulsi, Neha, me, Deep, Dhaval, Sandeep)Ksh sporting the 'tora aur milega look'Technology Park@BangaloreKsh wanted to click some pics and guess who volunteered to model :)

The Banglore trip before coming to Mumbai was a great success. The project partners were very happy to see their feed back taken into account and with all the progress made. Also the digital entertainment system in the flight crashed and we got a chance to make a video of the system boot up... that was a really cherry on the icing for us geeks... the icing being the great hotel and the night at the hard rock cafe.

The dump from the airline entertainment system boot upAnother one from the FacB roof top

Very soon

2009-07-24T01:00:00.002+05:30

Hi
I know I have posted even a single line in some time and so much has been happening around me. I haven't developed an apathy for blogging. Its just that I had no clue where to begin. I have started putting together some pictures to tell the story. So stay tuned. Will post it very very soon. Mean while its been raining in Mumbai and I love it.
Chao
Shubham

The Palm Grove Adventure

2009-06-12T07:38:00.003+05:30

From Deka's blog:

IITK is full of artificial light and so I was unable to take good photos of the night sky. Shubham suggested a particular spot about a kilometer from IITK, a few hundred meters off the highway. This in addition to being extra dark had a grove of palm trees and is called "The Oasis" by Shubham.

Me, Shubham and Kshitij set off for the place at 2 am yesterday on Shubham's scooty on an almost empty tank. We were able to find a petrol pump open after riding for about 3-4 kms and finally managed to reach this place. Here are some of the pics taken at this awesome place:

From Biplab's Blog

We were trying to spell IIT
- Shubham

From Biplab's Blog

2am and its raining on my home planet

2009-06-03T02:48:00.006+05:30

On a planet in the Milky way galaxy, home to the homo sapien species, atmospheric water vapor has been condensing into drops heavy enough to fall and big enough to make it to the surface on the face of the planet facing away from the star it circles every 31,556,926 seconds. This ridiculous phenomenon is captures by a being made up of 70% H2O and with scarce signs of motor skills and intelligence.After roughly taking 300 shots, I was finally able to capture the lightening. Second shot for a comparison.

Peacock dance

2009-06-01T07:03:00.004+05:30

Peacock dancing on top of the Nuclear Physics lab. Actually there were two. Lately its been raining almost every day. If not a proper rain, we are at least blessed with a drizzle. Making my last few days here very very memorable.Its like party time for the peacocks, going out with the peahens, jumping from one tree to another, dancing and munching up stuff in our canteen through out the day.

3g now at IIT Kanpur

2009-05-03T10:28:00.002+05:30

The pic say it all...

Early Morning Cycle Ride

2009-04-30T19:29:00.007+05:30

A couple of days back I was talking with a friend when I realized there is still a lot to explore here before I go. So starting on with my expedition I went on a early morning cycling safari to the pond@IITK. This place is behind hall of residence 9 and its pretty difficult to locate on foot because of the hedges all around and the uneven landscape, but I am a pretty stubborn person when I set my mind on something.
To prepare for the trip I borrowed my cycle back:), got it serviced and cleaned up and didn't sleep through out the night, probably the best techniques to make sure you are up early. Next step was to look up the place in google earth and get going. Cycling on bumpy, lumpy, rocky ground is my passion. I love to cycle fast on rough terrains and avoid getting thrown off it. After around half an hour of hunting I was able to locate it and it was worth the wait. The sunlight reflecting off the water looked magnificent.
I also ran into some huge birds that morning. They had deep red colored necks and were over 4.5 feet tall. This is the closest I could get to them without disturbing them. Pic from my iPhone.Hopefully I'll get a good camera soon. PS: I voted :). If votes have still not been casted in your region, do go out and vote.

It's April fool's day ...

2009-04-08T02:56:00.004+05:30

April fool's day in Kshitz's words:

Amidst loads of hassles and chaos due to uninformed visit of GM's top official, April fool's day fetched us many preys for entertainment, with Taru and Neha leading the row with Mr. and Ms. Popat award. The plan was incubated at the Hall 8 mess during lunch time while I was having food with Shubham. We had been thinking of some nice idea to play a prank on someone. When we were entering the mess I came across Ashwini Shukla. I had found my prey. Shubham suggested me to call Neha, and propose her. Since she didn't have my phone number so it should work out easily. I was little uncertain of the success of the plan... "proposing a girl ... although fake.. still first time in my life I was bound to stammer and fail." We even wrote a script for carrying out the entire series of events. Finally I gathered some courage and called her :

"Hello Neha... my name is Ashwini Shukla. I am a 4th year UG in the Mech Deptt and am planning to start my own firm and would like you to design the website for the same. I saw you a couple of times at CC canteen and got your no. from Rahul Verma. Could we meet at 6 in the CR."And fortunately she agreed in the first attempt.

Our evilness turned darker by the evening and we began making more wicked plans. We needed some girl who could fake Neha and call Ashwini to the CR. We approached Ruchira Ma'am and she agreed but 'Shubham didn't have the script ready by then'. Meanwhile Akanksha had arrived in the lab and gladly joined the gang. I confirmed Shukla's phone no. from Saket and called him from my mobile but he didn't pick the phone. While we were still planning what next... there was call on my phone from the same number. Akanksha picked up the phone. The plan was that she would say that she was a student from MNNIT who wanted to participate in Robocon and needed his guidance. She picked up the phone , "Hello , may I talk to Ashwini Shukla." On realizing that the voice on the other side was feminine she asked "Who is this?". "This is Neha. Is it Ashwini's phone number ?" I immediately realised that I had called up the last dialled number, that was Neha's and not Shukla's. What a popat were we making of ourselves; picking up Neha's call and a girl asking her for Shukla leaving no reason for her to trust us.

2-3 more attempts but Shukla didn't pick the phone. It was already 5 and we didn't have much time now. So we started thinking of some alternative target. But who could beat the mastermind Shubham who had already fooled 3 people in the meantime. He called up his Mom saying that he had finally found a girl and he wanted to introduce her to them at an upcoming family function at his uncle's. Surbhi was in the lab for a while and even she was not spared, "You know Vyas Sir has become the director of IIT Indore " :D He didn't stop at that. He wanted a double cross; when Ruchira Ma'am would call up Ashwini it should be someone else on the other side and she would herself be fooled.

We were browsing through our gtalk lists and came across Taru - the perfect choice. Akanksha made up a nice storyline , "Hello I am from Kanpur Institiute Of Technology. Our group is working on a solar heater project and Kadambi Sir wanted us to meet you. Could we meet at CR and could you share some of your notes and works". Poor Taru in his usual squeezing voice agreed to all her conditions (I could imagine him sitting on his chair and pressing the space bar for pausing the media player). It was 5.55 and we were planning to leave when Vyas Sir entered the lab saying, "Mr. Mangalgiri is in campus and would be here in 10 minutes." What the hell... we felt so cheated, while trying our best to somehow delay his visit but nothing seemed to work that day. Finally I somehow convinced Neha to come over to the CC canteen while Taru was still unreachable. While we were moving out to CC canteen Vyas Sir informed us that we would have to go and meet him in the VH itself so we were relaxed but it was little late as Neha might have already left. I again called her up and asked her to be at CR itself.

We moved towards the shop-C where Taru was sitting under the tree waiting for his lady. The sight was amazing. He had a big diary in his hand probably containing all his btp work to be sacrificed for a KIT girl. We went inside making him comfortable and at the same time pulling his leg. His usual stupid principles didn't take a break even here, "Yaar sabse buri baat ye hai ki log time dete hain aur late aate hain. Main 4 baar phone kar chuka huun but no kar de rahi hai." I was literally feeling sorry for him but could not stop recording all this conversation on my phone. "So, Taru whats her name," asked someone. "She didn't tell that and neither did I ask." And still this gentleman was waiting there well dressed up waiting to pour out all his knowledge. If only we had a little more time..... the story could have continued for some more time. I asked him to watch a video in the meantime which was nothing but the Akanksha's call video. He almost went dumb for a minute and then says, "Ab CR aa hi gaye hain to kuchh khila do." But we had to proceed to CC canteen to claim another treat. I called up Neha and this time some guy picks up the phone and spoke rather rudely as to who I was and why I was looking for her. I called on her cell back and assured that I am not fake and I was serious about the project to which she blindly agreed. While heading towards the lab a profile video was made on the Taru and the gang behind these activities. Shubham's description of his role in the story was worth noting, "Main sabse chaapu huun...saari achhi planning karta huun, tum log tel machate ho fir main usko wipe out karta huun".

Neha was waiting on a table behind the TMRS lab. Shubham jumped to ask her what was she doing there. "I was actually waiting for someone," with no clue to who the caller was and what was the name of the company she was making the website for. I tried to instigate some talks regarding Shukla but probably her enthusiasm about the first project of her life didn't let her stop.

Shubham :"So koi bhi ladka tumhe kahega ki kaam hai aa jao to chali jaogi".
Neha: "Mech mein main sab ladkon ko jaanti huun..ccc mein sabko dekha hai."
Shubham: "Rahul ko apna no. kyon diya?"
Akanksha :"Agar Vyas Sir peechhe se aa jayein to teeno ka jayega."

Praneeth who was waiting in the lab to hand me the bluetooth mobile for demo was already in the lab and was bugging me on the phone. So we decided to uncover the mystery fast. We once again showed her the call video and got our shares of abuses immediately.

Shubham: "Btw wo banda kaun tha jisne jhaada tha ?"
Neha : "To wo tum the jisne phone kiya tha... you dog .. agar maine pehle tumhari awaaz phone pe suni hoti to galti na karti ... arey wo to cross connection tha."

We apologised to the victims and proceeded for mission lab's mission now, when Neha snatched away Shubham's phone. Shukla after seeing my missed call, called back on my phone. Shubham not having switched to the work mode yet, cooked up a nice censored story to him on the phone.

Now it was Praneeth's turn who was walking with us towards the VH. He overheard our conversation regarding Neha making the company's website and got curious, "Which company which website... you registered your company or what". Why should we let him slip when he wants to drown himself. We cooked up a nice story that Shubham's Dad has loads of contacts and he has got us a company registered dealing in embedded systems. A website has also been registered for the same. "You didn't even inform me. What is this ? ...bla bla..bla", the whining continued till we had reached our destination.

The movie was yet not over and some anti-climax was still in store for us. We reached the VH at 6.45 only to realise that his room was locked. After waiting for 15 minutes I called up Sir and the much awaited typhoon was there. I tried to calm him down. Then we went to pick Dr. Mangalgiri from the "Artist in Residence" show. We brought him to the lab at 9 pm where our presentations lasted till 11.30 pm. Next morning we got the 2nd part of the blow from Sir when the single wheel test rig was not working. "3 din se bol rakha hai...ready kyn nahi hua. hasi mazaak chal raha tha kya !!" Somehow RSS and Ruchira Ma'am managed the situation and showed him some working VI.

A day full of pranks and an evening of nightmares.. deadly combination !!

via: http://kshdeo.blogspot.com
Go to Kshitz's blog for more fun stuff and happening of IIT Kanpur. There is a lot of untold and unheard stuff there.... shoking reveletions what the life at IIT is like.....
Chow
Shubham

Sync Facebook contacts with mac address book

2009-03-13T11:34:00.003+05:30

I found this great app which syncs pics and birthdays of your face book friends with your mac address book. This is great cause it then sync with my phone and I get pics and birthday reminders on my phone :). These are the kind of

Check it out on

http://danauclair.com/addressbooksync/

At Delhi 6

2009-03-09T19:31:00.002+05:30

Cheers
Shubham

In Delhi

2009-03-09T11:01:00.000+05:30

Cheers
Shubham
Sent from my iPhone

Bangalore ashram

2009-03-06T21:31:00.001+05:30

Cheers
Shubham
Sent from my iPhone

2009-03-06T01:10:00.003+05:30

I am in Bangalore. Came here to have a discussion with some very experienced researchers on the project I am working on. My project is basically a joint collaboration between GM and IIT Kanpur and is related to improving the car steering system. Here the GM facilities are excellent. Very quite and peaceful offices to work in and well equipped labs to break things in.

Apart from work I got a chance to go to the MG Road. While packing for Bangalore I realized that I had only one pair of jeans which was in one piece. Rest have ripped some where or the other, mostly my skating habits are to be blamed. So I got a couple of jeans.

Before coming here some thing very interesting happened. A couple of weeks back my guide and I figured that I need to give some direction to the project I am working on. For that he suggested I go to GM Bangalore, present my work and get some feed back and thoughts. I promptly fixed a meeting and booked my tickets. 5 days before departure I realized something. Say my work is shooting arrows. I was supposed to shoot an arrow in the North direction, but because it was a little foggy at that moment in the north I decided to shoot an arrow 2 degrees from the north figuring I could reorient it later, back to north. Five days before the presentation I found out that there was no possible way to reorient the arrow and all the work I had so far, now only contributed to increasing my knowledge. So basically 4 months of slogging and nothing to present, that too a week before!!!!. Life is full of pleasant surprises :).I figured what had happened had happened and there was no way of knowing how this knowledge would contribute in the future. Smiling at my fate I started again from scratch. I toiled for 3 days and nights and finally was closing on something that might have accounted as presentable results, when again something very interesting happened.

Some late night creative photography....:)

At 6 am 2 days before the presentation I realized I wasn't supposed to shoot an arrow in the north in the first place. I was happy that now finally I knew what was to be done and was pondering on how stale life would be without these servings of salt and pepper along the way. I decided to do first things first..... sleep.... So I went for group kriya to Ankur's room at 6:30am with every intention of going to sleep after that. Who knew the master had something else in mind. After the group kriya Deep and Neha figured it would be better for me to go for Dev D morning show :) I also thought it was a great idea and willing went provided they took me in a taxi and the ticket was paid for. So 10 am we were at Big Cinemas ready for some emotional attyachaar in the most expensive seats :P.

After the movie I took some rest and worked till my morning train the next day. Before leaving I had the equations ready. I did the presentation on my way and by the time I reached I was almost done....... Now when I look back I cannot stop laughing and wondering how things happen. The universe works perfectly.... all you need to do is have some faith. I have no idea how a lazy bum like me stayed up for 5 day... almost straight..... :)... well actually I have some idea. In the last couple of year events with same central theme have happened over and over again and I have realized one profound truth about my life: It's going to be a lot of fun (unimaginable)........ but its not going to be easy at all..... a no comfort zone is guaranteed... :) well I have developed a liking for it. I'll do the next part of the post soon with details on how the trip turned out to be...... and how I managed to meet the Guru (Guru bhai and His holiness Sri Sri).....

Signing of and hoping a good night's sleep in weeks

Shubham

To Banglore

2009-03-03T08:08:00.000+05:30

Cheers
Shubham
Sent from my iPhone I leave for a week long trip to Bangalore. There I'll be meeting top
level researchers at General Motors. I am looking forward to learning
from them. Probably I'll be back on the 10th.

The new Safari

2009-02-26T04:57:00.003+05:30

Apple launched the Safari Beta 4 today and my loyalty towards Firefox seems to be wavering. So far the combination of foxmarks and safari 4 seems to be lethal. Its faster than anything I have ever used before.... Give it a shot.... and lemme know if you like it.....Apple - Safari - Introducing Safari 4 - See the web in a whole new way

I got new skates

2009-02-17T22:28:00.006+05:30

My new skates arrived yesterday and they are just funtastic. They are every thing I ever wanted in a skate. They are from the company K2 and are called Il Capo or the head/the mafia :). The boot is short and very well padded. The chassis is made out of steel which gives it strength and makes the base heavy which is great for maintaining speed. Also the special thing about the skates are that they are specially designed for street and slalom skating. Hence, even though the wheels are 80mm in size there is very less space between two wheels. This gives me exceedingly rapid acceleration, complemented with a high degree of maneuverability. The wheels too have high hardness(84A) but at same time are remarkably grippy, a very rare combination. The bearing are ILQ7 which are turbo fast. I am once again ready to burn the roads. };^)

iPod nano 4g

2009-02-09T00:59:00.006+05:30

I played with Rajat's iPod Nano 4g. He says he does not like the color but I love it. The device is an amazing piece of hardware. 8gb of memory crammed into such a small shell. It feels weightless in the hand and using it is a breeze. The interface is very intutive. Kind of like that of the iPhone. If you turn it sideways, the list disappears and the album art mode kicks in. The graphics run very smoothly as if clouds gliding through the sky. And the coolest new feature is the song shuffler. Just shake the iPod and another random song form the play list starts to play. Also from an engineer's perspective it has no mooving parts, hence really long life. As Rajesh Bhaiya says, inner Peace outer dynamizm(iPod). :) Although he means it in a very different context.

Art of Living show enters Guinness Book of World Records

2009-02-02T13:57:00.003+05:30

Zee News, 21st January, 2009The grand symphony of the Art of Living which gave platform to 1094 sitarists in the presence of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, has entered the Guinness Book of World Records.

The proceeds of the event, titled Brahm Naad, went towards helping victims of the recent Bihar floods. Held in Noida near Delhi on November 21, 2008, the event was organized on a large scale and got a huge response.

Inspired by Sri Sri, the 2-day programme envisaged re-enforcing the unifying power of music in spreading global peace and harmony.

“Music connects the individual to the universal spirit,” said Sri Sri, adding, “Music is that rhythm and harmony that flows from the universal to the individual, from the cosmos to the finite.” Brahm Naad refers to the first sound of the universe, it is also called the Music of the Cosmos.

Speaking at the programme, Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, noted santoor exponent said, “This is a miracle happening. This has been possible due to the blessings of Sri Sri. I am privileged to be here.”

At the event, Sri Sri was felicitated by Live Earth, which has been founded by Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore, to high- light the notable work done by the Art of Living for the Mission Green Earth Stand Up Take Action 2008 – a project which envisages the plantation and nurturing of 100 million saplings, across the globe, to help reduce global warming.

The music for this 1000-piece sitar orchestra was based on ancient ragas from the Gandharva Veda.

The Art of Living has been involved in the relief & rehabilitation of the state of Bihar, through its volunteer network, at flood hit districts of Khagaria, Katihar, Purnia, Bhagalpur, Arariya, Madhyapura, Supoul & the army medical camp in Narpatganj. Having mobilized relief materials worth Rs 10 crore, His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has pledged to raise Rs 40 crore for the rehabilitation of the flood victims.
Watch video: Symphony 1, Symphony 2 & Symphony 3

URL: www.zeenews.com/lifestyle/etc/2009-01-21/500584news.html

It's raining

2009-01-24T13:52:00.000+05:30

Cheers
Shubham
Sent from my iPhone

Bye bye Shimla

2009-01-23T22:53:00.000+05:30

The course (YES!++) starts today. No more chit chatting for a couple
of days. The external journey ends and the inner one begins
Cheers
Shubham
Sent from my iPhone

Some where in Kufri

2009-01-23T13:31:00.000+05:30

No snoe yet. The newspaper said it's expected soon. I am keeping my
fingers crossed.
Cheers
Shubham
Sent from my iPhone

View from my room

2009-01-22T17:36:00.000+05:30

Cheers
Shubham
Sent from my iPhone

Reached Chandigarh

2009-01-22T12:39:00.001+05:30

At the Chandigarh station. The train was a little(read very) late, but
I liked it cause it gave me a chance follow my usual sleeping hours
Cheers
Shubham
Sent from my iPhone

Hitesh@Ambala Station

2009-01-22T10:56:00.001+05:30

Cheers
Shubham
Sent from my iPhone

Leaving for Shimla....weeeee!!!

2009-01-21T13:10:00.000+05:30

Hi
I leave tonight. It might be pretty difficult to reach me once I am
there. The course starts on the 24th morning. That leaves me with two
days to check out Shimla and other stuff. I'll post pictures and
updates depending on the availability of EDGE services
Cheers
Shubham
Posted from my iPhone

Scooty released

2009-01-20T13:01:00.003+05:30

I got the paddle lock necklace, which the dean had so loving put
around my Honda's neck removed. Got it refueled and now it's ready to
go with the all new lazy owner look.
Cheers
Shubham
Sent from my iPhone

What have I been up to

2009-01-20T12:37:00.006+05:30

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking
During Megabucks 09:

Fake river crossing.Fake crossing of the fake river: The 3 1/2 dirty yellow teeth visible belong to Meet

Swinging on the rope bridge.

Rappelling off the Auditorium wall

Great job Megabucks team and Zice

Feedback!!!

2009-01-10T00:32:00.002+05:30

Hi
I got a chance to visit the Registrar office today. Check out the pics for a expose on the complaint and suggestion box. Truly our feedback is valued and preserved untouched for eternity. I can bet the key to the box is lost.
Cheers
SG

Rural Indian Innovators

2009-01-02T00:14:00.003+05:30

Insanely great apps for free from MacHeist

2008-12-28T01:40:00.002+05:30

Go to http://givingtree.macheist.com/ to download a bunch of paid apps for free!!!

Am Back

2008-12-27T02:39:00.019+05:30

Hi, I am back on the blog sphere with loads of news. I met Vineeth yesterday and he inspired me to write again.

The coming semester I have no exams, no course work and no assignments, but from the start of things it seems its gonna be a very busy and memorable one. Apart from my project work (the only official liability) I am planning to do some projects of my own. Also I have decided to do some fun courses. Luckily I met Prof. K Patil and decided to audit her Modern Art course in the coming semester. I have done some Art courses in the past like communication design, western art and video production and throughly enjoyed them. These are courses which have given new directions to impulses flowing in my frontal cerebrum , added a new perspective to my thinking.

I am now able to install some paid apps on my iPhone for free..... shhhhhh

I tried Alphalt 4 and Toy story.
Alphalt is like the best application written ever. I am paying for it as soon as I get my credit card. The graphics are astounding and all this on a device so small really blows your mind away. Check out the video and the screen shot.

There is a Alumini reunion going on at IIT Kanpur . Rahul literally dragged me to the thing. It is one of the many things I am greatful to him for. It is only because of his vision and perspiration that I am student senator today and am throughly enjoying the journey. Back to the function which started with performances by a band named 'a little rusty'. One of the many things only IITians can do. Accept the truth. Though they were great. There were some amazing persomances for example the one dedicated to all the ones who had left for USA of the song 'Get Back':)
Here it is for your pleasure

and here's the band performing it for you.

Check out the guy on the left. He is a mechanical eng from the 84 batch and now a sadhu and apparently very good with the guitar. We have the coolest of alumni. I want to meet him real bad and will go looking for him tomorrow.

Recently I went to Bombay to attend a YES!+ meet and eat loads of ice cream. When I started off for Bombay I was really sick with fever and a bad cold. But with in a few hours of reaching, I lost it to the city's heat and pollution :). We started a Dhirti Ma Club ( pronounce Dirty Ma Club) there. Currently Dona is the only active member. Those who know this fun loving and splendid Gods' [must have taken more than one :)] creation might already have an insight into what happened. We are planning to extend the membership, applications can be send to shubham.goel@gmail.com and remember you have to be a superhero first.
Our superhero orientation ceremony

PS: I havn't been able to figure out how to get the formatting right on this theme YET, but will do it soon

Sleeping your way to success

2008-12-14T02:14:00.004+05:30

Save as Draft

Working hard....

My secret mantra for success has now also been proved by research.

The next time someone gives you a hard time about sleeping in, say you were hard at work figuring out a difficult problem. Findings published today in the journal Nature provide experimental evidence that the old adage "sleep on it" actually has merit.

Ullrich Wagner of the University of Lubeck in Germany and his colleagues assigned people a mathematical puzzle consisting of a string of eight numbers. The scientists provided the subjects with two rules by which to generate a second string of numerals. In addition, a shortcut, which the researchers did not divulge, could be used to arrive at the target answer. After initial training, some participants were allowed to get a good night's sleep while others remained awake. When they returned to the problem eight hours later, those who had slumbered were twice as likely to find the shortcut as were those who hadn't slept. Members of a second group that trained in the morning and attempted the problem again later that day were also slower at finding the shortcut, suggesting that tiredness was not a factor for the poor performances.

Just what kind of sleep--rapid-eye-movement (REM) versus non-REM sleep, for example--is best for tackling tricky puzzles remains unclear, as does the role dreaming plays in solving problems while sleeping. But Pierre Maquet and Perrine Ruby of the Cyclotron Research Center in Belgium note in an accompanying commentary that "at the very least, Wagner et al. give us good reason to fully respect our periods of sleep; especially given the current trend to recklessly curtail them."

So next time you have a problem......... my advice...... SLEEP OVER IT and pass the message...

Via: Scientific American

Deloitte

2008-12-06T02:40:00.002+05:30

Hi
I got a job offer from Deloitte today :)

The iPhone and me

2008-12-05T19:16:00.003+05:30

Hi
After a lot of contemplating I finally went for the iPhone 3g. The phone as expected is awesome. It has GPS and unlimited GPRS from airtel. Plus I get push emails (I receive them the minute they are sent to me on my phone) which is great. Push email is something I have alway wanted. Here are some pics professionally clicked by Kshitij. Warning: Its a real Drool mal....... :)

Punishment trip to spiritual spa

2008-11-24T22:05:00.003+05:30

Vishalaxi Mandap, Art of Living ashram, Bangalore

Errant employees needn’t be sacked. They can, as a Pune firm has shown, be sent to a spiritual spa for redemption. Shiv Sai Infosys Private Ltd sent three young employees accused of “jeopardising the interest of the organisation” to an all-expenses-paid trip to such a spa in Bangalore.
So, instead of facing the sack, the youths checked in for a week at spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar’s ashram for an Art of Living course. The plan was the brainchild of CEO Dheerajj Agarwal, who had earlier taken an advanced version of the course at the ashram. The results left other executives at Shiv Sai Infosys, which offers business process outsourcing solutions and has branches in Mumbai, surprised. The trio came back transformed.
“Seven days at the ashram changed us. The course has given us a new purpose. Earlier, our idea of enjoyment was to drink and make merry. Now, we are more focused and motivated towards our job,” said Nikhil Baddap, one of the three who achieved the spa salvation.

Via: The Telegraph ,YES!+ Pages

Next generation of interface

2008-11-15T23:56:00.003+05:30

The biggest break through after the introduction of the Graphical User Interface and Mouse in 1984. This new interface comes from oblong Industries and is called the g-speak spatial operating environment.

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

Casual Updates....

2008-11-15T03:30:00.010+05:30

So many days have gone by and I have been waiting to write something. A lot has happened since I last posted.A YES!+ course in campus. The course was a big hit and every one had so much fun. I remember something Bhaiya asked in one of the post course sessions which made me think a lot. We were eating Pani puri in Rave Moti when Ankur pointed out how magnificently the Pani Puri had been presented. Then he asked "Have you ever presented some thing so well?". I don’t remember the PJ that followed but you should have seen the course venue the next day. As the course participants were entering they were asking "Is there some special session today?" the venue was that clean.

Phuskar

More pics of the course at http://picasaweb.google.com/shubham.goel/YESIITKanpurNov08

My brother visited the campus and I got a chance to check out the iPhone 3g. It was in mint condition. I absolutely fell in love with the device. Though the differences are minor between the 2g and the new 3g but its so white and shiny!!! Plus it has GPS and a data plan which works on roaming. I have been struggling really hard to get the data plan activated on my iPhone. Also the rumors are true. Because of the new shape it really feels better to hold and work on. I must appreciate his patience because I really know how to fiddle with a device and test its limits.

A Reflection of the 2g in the 3g iPhone :)

I took him out to Tarka along with Rajesh Bhaiya and some close friends. It was fun to see him after a long time. We tried awesome new Italian dishes, names of which I still can't pronounce:)

Pavan's G4 on the right

Last week end I got to lay my hands on Pavan's Powerbook G4. Its always feels nice to finger around with vintage Apple stuff. Pavan would kill me if he reads this cause he sincerely believes that his G4 is faster than my intel duo and loves his machine. Ignorance is a bliss after all. Did I mention I accidentally erased his hard disk at 4 am in the morning, but then I remebered "There are no accidents in life"- Master Oogway

Dinner Gang
From the left: Some awesome dude, Deep, Zeba, Abhishek, Dheeraj, Siddharth and Rashmita
Row 2: Divya, Avani, Gauri, Vipul and Laxmikant

And finally today to celebrate children's day we went to the near by juvenile centre and I made a new friend Chandan. Later I cajoled the three babes (Avani, Divya and Zeba) to cook dinner for us and after 3 hrs of cooking and grocery shopping we had a great meal and lots of people to help finish :)

Video Chat in Gmail

And the cherry on the icing is that google has has released video and voice chat and the best part, it all works on mac this time.

http://www.photofunia.com/

2008-11-05T02:43:00.003+05:30

Have fun with pics on this website.Last time when I was featured in Vogue

I know what u are thinking but they begged me :)

Gandhi ji in an art gallery

Antaragni 08

2008-11-02T03:20:00.003+05:30

Have been meaning to write about it for quite some time but the past few days have been crazy. Old news though..... Antaragni rocked. For me it started with the ending of the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy show. I came back from Anantrang 08 around 9 pm. Rested for sometime and went down to the canteen to nibble when I saw Farhan Akhtar on the local campus channel. After that I had no control on my self. I could hear him performing at least a couple of kms away and had to go see him, thought the moment I reached there the show just got over but I did manage a glimpse of the trio.
Day3
Next day my when I woke up to my surprise I found some of my wing mates who had graduated last year walking around. They had come back for the fest. It was like old time, long chats, loads of PJs and leg pulling. My friends took me to syncronocity(hard rock event). I don't 'digg' rock but am open to new experiences and hence decided to go. A few hours and a seemingly endless walk later we finally attended the event and with in half an hour I was feeling it. I had aural nerve damage, a heavy head, stomach disorder and watering eyes. I don't know what caused it, me head banging half a meter from the speakers or the music but that was the moment rock turned into dust for me.

A really old friend had come from Delhi. We had done our first YES!+ course together. It was quite a surprise as I hadn't seen or heard from her in a really long time. We had so much fun together. I tried to show her IITK from many different perspectives, but she BSed her way out of my every attempt. She is undoubtedly the best BSer I ever met. We finally ended up on the FacB 6th floor corridor where we cleaned the railing with our chin for some time till we decided to see Kung Fu Panda, my all time favorite now. If you haven't seen it, please do me a favor and do, or come over to my room unannounced and we'll watch it again. She could barely keep her eyes open after the movie. I being a professional late night procrastinator had no trouble what so ever. After a scooty ride we called it a night. Even though we met after a long time we connected really well. Day4
Next day I went to see Natraj cause I wanted to see my lab mate perform. Natraj is a classical dance competition. Till date I thought most traditional stuff was boring, but the next dancer on stage was about to shatter this idea. She was wearing gunghru (cluster of bells tied to the feet) and she tapped her feet on the stage at a such a pace that it was a visual challenge to distinguish between two taps. Not only were her taps fast but also firm. The wooden stage in L7 was actually vibrating and the curtains behind had ripples going up. Her hand gestures were extremely and exceptionally graceful and delicate. I became a big fan instantly.
Later that day I saw Sandeep walking around in the canteen and we talked and walked around SAC, academics area all night long catching up on old times. Sandeep is one guys I credit my intact ass to. A couple of hours before the exam or an assignment submission deadline I used to land at his room. He too was always in troubled waters but always had some ammunition. Either an assignment to copy from or an hint to whats gonna come. I remember when I first met him. During my first year I had a habit of testing my peers with brain teasers. So I was at this big shot's room asking him all sort of stuff and when Sandeep walked in and started answering all the stuff casually, like they were all no brainers and asked for more. Till date I have never seen him bragging his skills or showing them off in exams :) Thats why I like the guy so much, and also because he is earning. ;)

That is how another Antaragani ended with friends and lots of fond memories.

Rajesh Bhaiya in Campus

2008-10-30T14:48:00.004+05:30

Hi
This morning I went to Lucknow and got to campus a weird entity known by the name Rajesh Jagasia
Other Chemical Properties
Name: Rajesh Jagasia
Size(spacial): Medium
Size(spiritual): XXL
Weight: Very heavy on values, about 70kg on earth
Crystal Structure: Very agile
Reactivity: Highly reactive, mostly catalistic in nature.
Position in periodic table: 128/VH
Cheers
Come and see him
All are welcome for a serving of free food and PJs
Shubham

6am cab ride to Lucknow

Crossover free today

2008-10-28T23:11:00.004+05:30

Hi
Get crossover for Mac and Linux free today from the Codeweaver website
Go to
http://down.codeweavers.com/
and get free copies of crossover. Crossover is used by Mac and Linux users to run windows programs on Mac and Linux machine. The advantage is u don't have to virtualize (boot in to windows from your operating system) windows. It just runs the windows program like a native program. I am yet to test it on a Mac but on Linux it works wonderfully especially for MS Office.
Cheers

ShubhamCrossover on Mac OS 10.4

Anantrang 08 [pics]

2008-10-26T05:31:00.006+05:30

Siddharth on stage

Me in total mastiSingh striking a pose

As promised some pics from the day.... it was awesome
more @
http://picasaweb.google.com/shubham.goel/Anantrang08

Anantrang 08

2008-10-24T04:47:00.005+05:30

Anantrang Backdrop

Hi
Tomorrow is the D-day or the Party day. Abhishek, Avani and many more have been working very hard to make this evening happen. From going around the city for sponsors to running to the bus station for a video clipping (long story) these guys have done it all. They have barely been able to manage 2 hrs of sleep every day. Passes have been selling like hot cakes at Cafe Coffee day, Dominos, etc. Also disk jockeys from 93.5 sFM are coming down to anchor the event. I am really looking forward to meet them and hundreds of new people coming for the show. For now I wanted to share the event backdrop with you which has been designed by Meera. We bugged her a lot but she did an awesome job. I'll share many more event pics tomorrow if I get my hands on them. Generally I am too busy dancing:). I am really excited to see all this come together so beautifully. Abhishek when initially proposed the idea seemed too far fetched, but he is one guy who can make impossible... 'i m possible'.
If you wanna join the celebration today
Come to
Pandu Nagar Housing Society, Near J.K.Temple@6pm
Cheers

My gender is: Dude

2008-10-09T00:01:00.004+05:30

While registering an account on Digg I found this amusing drop menu under gender. Another reason why Digg rocks.

The Digg registration page

I am Lucknow now.....

2008-10-06T22:42:00.005+05:30

will be enjoying the city of parks and nawabs for a complete week

New Skates for the club

2008-10-06T21:26:00.004+05:30

slalom race on the wet rink: it was awesome, watching us skate the crowd went nuts..

Puneet and me after the race

After months of nagging we finally have approval to buy new skates for the skating club. I really appreciate Ahbishek Tiwari's efforts for allotting the funds. I know he has taken some very tough decisions to make this happen. We all (participants and the coordinators) are very excited about this new development. With the flood lit skating rink, new instructor and new skates the skating club is fast moving out of the developing stage. The new coordinators are taking charge now and heading full on to make the club a phenomenon. A phenomenon I am really lucky to witness.

At a place like IIT Kanpur many new and revolutionary things keep happening and if you get to be a part of just one of them you are really lucky. I have been a part of three. The skating club for one has touched over 800 students and showed them a new ways of falling head over heals :). The YES!+ course started happening when I was in my second year and now has become the most popular course on campus. It has transformed the lives of hundreds of students on campus taught them how to smile even after a bad quiz

and go make a difference in the society they live in. From setting up schools in far fetched corners of the country (eg. the one in Aur Wand Tand, a naxalite hit area, by Rajesh Jasaia and ass.) to planting over a 100 million trees. Now that I have mentioned YES!+ I'll do another in-depth report about YES!+ and its side effects ;). The third is Sumeru Sandhya/Anantrang. More about that too, but later.

Getting back, as for the skates, we are planning to get inline skates from Yonker. They have a great soft skate shoe, steel wheel frame and ABEC-5 speed bearings. All in all they are the perfect pair of skates to start on. I wish I had these when I started. If you have any suggestions or need tips buying new ones do get in touch. I would love to hear from you.

Another update: A few weeks back during Udgosh 08, our inter-college sports festival the club had organized a couple of skate races. I came in first in the 500m forward and 200m back skate race. Rajat won the slalom race which was a real challenge as it was raining and the skating rink got wet.

skate dance team....almost

Virtual Box....Windows on Mac

2008-09-22T18:49:00.003+05:30

Hi
Found this to virtualize Windows on Mac OS X. Its a great alternative to Parallel or VMware. The best thing about this software is that it's free. I you happen to try it out do let know about your experience. You can get it from http://www.virtualbox.org/

I am a PC

2008-09-21T02:46:00.004+05:30

This is hilarious.....
I'll tell you the complete story.....
Once upon a time there was a company called Apple Inc. They had a habit of mocking the completion. So they made advertisements to jeer at the opponent. In 1984 it was IBM.

And two decades later it was Microsoft. (I am a Mac ad series)

(check out more ads at http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/......if you havn't already seen them, see them now, they are hysterically funny)

In 2008 some thing changed. An opponent with deep pockets decided to strike back.

(Check out http://www.microsoft.com/windows/)
It was a great come back. Many rich and influential people joined the campaign. But then there was this just teny tiny thing.......These ads were partly done on macs..Check out this article from computer world for more. And the war continues..... Lets see how Microsoft comes back......

If you like the little story do leave a comment.

Skate Dance DE 08

2008-09-20T21:59:00.003+05:30

So many updates........so little time. Actually thats not true. Its just that I have been acting lazy all week.
Last weekend the skating club performed in the Dance Extravaganza 08 (DE). I think it happened for the first time in the history of DE that non performers went on stage and rocked, after all we had a superb choreographer Nitish and two great managers Hemant and Adarsh. The three are coordinators for the club now. The Dance club was really supportive to put their faith in us.
I remember when Nitish proposed for a skate dance exactly 13 days before the event. We didn't have props, people or the time. But we decided to go ahead with it. We'll thats the way we do things here at IITK. Finally by the time of the show we even had sponsered dresses!!!
I must say the participants did a great job. Most of them picked up skakes for the first time, but became so good over the week that even most of experienced ones were left behind by their vigour and valler. The jumps they made, the trust in their team members to let them jump over them and what not.
Check out the pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/shubham.goel/SkateDanceDE08

They weren't there

2008-09-18T03:09:00.001+05:30

An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly that made the world community smile.

A representative from India began: ‘Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Rishi Kashyap of Kashmir, after whom Kashmir is named.

When Rishi Kashyap struck a rock and it brought forth water, he thought, ‘What a good opportunity to have a bath.’

He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water.

When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Pakistani had stolen them.

The Pakistani representative jumped up furiously and in support of Pakistan , he shouted, ‘What are you talking about? The Pakistanis weren’t there then.‘

The Indian representative smiled and said, ‘And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.’

Via: Bawandinesh.name

Make Your Dock Icons Translucent for Hidden Apps

2008-08-27T16:09:00.002+05:30

Apple-loving weblog TUAW highlights a simple Terminal tweak that makes all of your hidden applications appear translucent in the Dock. Just fire up Terminal and paste:

defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool YES

Then restart the Dock by pasting killall Dock and hitting enter. Once it restarts, any app you hide shows up dimmed in the Dock.

VIA: TUAW

iPhone from Vodafone

2008-08-20T07:10:00.002+05:30

The iPhone from Vodafone in India is gonna be damm expensive.
31k for the 8gb model and 36.5k for the 16gb model plus you need a vodafone connection. Attached is the original mail form the vodafone people.

It's oficial

2008-08-18T14:23:00.002+05:30

Check out:
http://www.apple.co.in/iphone/buy/
iPhone coming to India on the 22nd of August

Blue Screen of Death Strikes Bird's Nest During Opening Ceremonies Torch Lighting

2008-08-12T21:29:00.002+05:30

Well this is just perfect. At the exact moment Li Ning was rounding the lip of the Bird's Nest during the amazing torch-lighting climax, someone snapped this photo of our good friend the BSOD nestled amongst the Nest's steel twigs. Perhaps an Opening Cermonies IT dude spit out his coffee on the machines in the server room when Li took to the sky? Another question is what a projection screen is doing inside the Nest at that location, but I think the better question is what wasn't going on inside the Nest's roof—did you see that thing during the ceremonies? Lights! Fireworks! LED screens! Everything! Anyway, if only one image of this perfectness existed we'd be skeptical, but thankfully, someone has grabbed more from a different angle that pretty much seal the deal.
Via Gizmodo.com

An ad free world

2008-08-10T10:08:00.002+05:30

Because of Congressional scruntiny, Yahoo! and Google has made a big change about their advertisements targeting policy. You can now choose not to watch any ads on Yahoo! and Google by opt-out. You can do it for Yahoo! at here, and Google at here. This may hurt their revenue, but since most people may be lazy to do so, it is expected the advertisements can still be delivered. Will you choose to “opt-out”, anway?
Via: winandmac.com

iPhone 3g: Now coming to India

2008-08-08T03:54:00.003+05:30

After Vodafone even airtel announced the launch of iPhone 3G in India. Vodafone clearly said they will be providing the iPhone on a 2g network but Airtel has not shed any light on this topic. August 22 is supposed to be the D-day for both the providers but the plan details and the phone pricing is still hazy.
Links:
http://www.airtel.in/iphone3g/
http://www.techtickerblog.com/2008/08/06/its-official-iphone-3g-coming-this-august-in-india/

IIT Kanpur....... Big Blunder

2008-08-01T01:42:00.001+05:30

I dont know how to explain this phenomenon. My head is filled with so
many ideas.
I try with out mixing them all up.
Our department (ME, IIT Kanpur) has been making a lot of efforts
lately to show off the ahead of its time research going on. Today I
found out they have taken it to another level. They never realized
that a clock in sync with 7 satellites form around the globe could
take us to a new dimension in time. So as we are already there might
as well enjoy it, because its not every day that you witness the 32nd
of July..:)
Welcome to the land of longer months.
I thought only Indian time was stretched (IST- Indian Stretched Time)
Cheers
Shubham

PS: Thanks a lot to Saket for the mid night discovery. It made my day.

Equation Editor for Mac OS

2008-07-31T23:22:00.003+05:30

Hi
Recently discovered cool office software like iWork (for Mac OS x)but need to type those damm equations in the document too...... Try LATEXiT. It is a small program which writes equations in Latex and creates small PDFs which can then be dragged and dropped into various programs. Its easy to create eqations and they look great too. The only down side is that you will have to learn a little Latex.....but millions of tutorials exhist online.
So let me know if you use this software and like it.

Sunset from Hall8

2008-07-28T22:00:00.003+05:30

For higher resolution http://www.sendspace.com/file/r17vkd
Enjoy

The Bat of Batman

2008-07-28T21:19:00.003+05:30

Yesterday my friend/neighbor was peacefully enjoying Batman Begins. It must have been 11 pm and because of the heat he had left the door open. Guess who decided to give him a visit. Turns out Count Dracula was is the mood to check out the new guy in the cape, who had been getting all the attention lately and using his very own well established trademark and nobody seemed to mind it. So after scaring the .... out of my friend the poor Ct. must have hit the fan and landed on a chair. Looks like he is doing balle balle

Attention, Intention and the Manifestation techinique

2008-07-15T01:04:00.001+05:30

The Meditative Me

For those of you interested here is the link to the original talk.
http://guruvaani.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/intention-attention-manifestation/
Read it, understand it, use it and if it works for u, explain it to me. Just kidding. After reading it I figured that its difficult to just read it and understand/use it but if you have done the YES!+ course or some other variation it comes very naturally, without any efforts.
Enjoy
Shubham

More reservation

2008-07-10T04:53:00.006+05:30

Here I am having a difficult time reserving a ticket to Delhi and these guys are talking about more reservation. GOD.......whats wrong with them.....why are they so badly after the IIT system. There are other things that are doing well in India too......go after them yar. Why not reservation in the Indian Cricket team and even their coaches. Do they already have that? Some one please clarify. I am not big on cricket news. Oooooooh.......ooohhh.........reservation in Bollywood. That would be interesting. Also reservation in your love life. Say you have had 4 boy/girl friends.......2 of them have to be from the backward classes......by the way...we at IIT can actually do with something like that. 38 Girls in a batch of 550 students. Now that's a problem of monumental importance that the country if facing. Any way for the ones blissing out in ignorance check out
IITs set to implement quotas for faculty positions
IITians protest reservations in faculty appointment
It will divide India: Sri Ravi Shankar
Also you can sign this petition http://www.petitiononline.com/iitprtst/petition.html
and express you opinion on different news paper websites.
And in the end I would like to apologies if I have hurt anybody's feeling. I had no intention of doing so.

My new creation

2008-07-10T00:38:00.004+05:30

Latest kid on blog.........with a fashion statement.....

Update.......

2008-07-06T04:17:00.003+05:30

Seems like day after day my life is becoming like an unstable reaction. A new adventure every day. Sometimes I have no clue where I am going or getting up and my bed does not seem to be happy with this erratic behavior as it does not get to spend quality time with my bum any more. Even the bees are finding new people to sting now, though I made it up to them this morning. I was standing in the balcony debating whether to sleep in my room or my lab, when one gracious little one decided to kick start my day. But sadly it didn't get any action from my side. I quietly stood while it stung me and then took the bus to another realm. Though I did get a chance to test another desi nuska (local recipe) for bee stings. I'll probably do another post on ways and places to get stung at and what to do next......:)
Today I am Lucknow. It's my dad's birthday and I decided to surprise him by coming here even thought it has been raining non stop for the past 2 days. I just love the rain. Every thing seems to be so clean and serene. Very few people are generally out and the smell......hmm.....only one word comes to mind....... intoxicating.

Nimble meet quick

By the way my dad loved the surprise and he had a surprise of his own. He got a brand new, blazing fast, super slick, all aluminum body Macbook Pro 15". He unpacked it in front of me and boy you should have seen the look on his face. Later I gave him a demo of the new features and he really liked the multi touch gestures. For the first time a computer was getting his attention..... Lucky bastard. I think he will finally start checking his mails...:). I am now pretty sure that the "attention, intention & manifestation" technique that Guruji had taught us really works. Oh shit.....its 4 am......I think I should sleep now.....am at my home after all....will write more about the "attention, intention & manifestation" technique and the movie Jaane tu....ya jaane naa......later.....(its awesome.............must watch )......
Bye
Cheers
Shubham

Top reasons to Inline Skate

2008-06-26T15:15:00.005+05:30

Inline Skating as Transportation
Reap the benefits of being a pedestrian while enjoying the speed of a small vehicle. Your inline skates are a wonderful way to transport yourself from one place to another, especially if there is a scenic view. But wait, there’s more. Once you arrive at your destination, there’s no need to pay for parking. Just take your vehicles with you.
Inline Skating is Very Green
Motorbikes, go carts and jet skis precious gas and emit poisonous fumes. Inline skate and help save the world while having fun, because you are the fuel that powers your adventure.
Inline Skating Equals Physical & Mental Fitness
Burn some calories, tone some muscles, relieve a little stress, get an aerobic workout, strengthen your heart and clear your mind.
Inline Skating is for Thrill Seekers
Vert, aggressive, freestyle slalom, downhill and off road inlne skating can fulfill every thrill seeker's dreams. Or nightmares depending on who’s dreaming.
Inline Skating is Competitive
Hockey, speed, figure, and aggressive inline skating have competitive activities for anyone who loves to choose a target and shoot for it.
Inline Skating is Flexible
Enjoy an activity that can be all that you want it to be, where you want to do it and when you’ve got the time for it. Morning, noon or night, there is a place to inline skate. Choose social, fitness or competitive... you can have inline skating your way.

(from about.com)

Bommarillu Rocks........

2008-06-15T05:03:00.004+05:30

I watched the most awesome Telugu movie today which completely changed my opinion about south Indian movies, music, sense of direction, cinematography and selection of actors. If you get a chance don't miss it. Its a romantic movie about a guy who leads a pretty idealistic life inside the house and lives by his father's wishes because of his respect for him, but when it comes to marriage and love he and his family learn a lot about each other because of a new member they have.

This is me reporting from campus at 5:13 AM in the morning.

Its raining again.......

2008-06-13T21:12:00.004+05:30

I caught a peacock dancing on camera today.

Check out my favorite rain song.........

http://www.sendspace.com/file/0e7qxj

Rohit had first introduced me to this song....... beautiful lyrics and melodious music...... Lie back and let the music play.......

New CC Vigilance Committee Head

2008-06-09T18:06:00.003+05:30

Our new CC head Mr. Chachha in action. [Names changed for confidential reasons..:)]

[Live Report]End Sem Exams

2008-04-25T09:57:00.009+05:30

Hi
As the exams get closer, weather gets hotter and hotter here at IIT Kanpur. High temperature and exam fever can be a deadly combination and many are falling prey to it. Photographic evidence attached.Shantanu came to my room twice in a fatal attempt to study NLV.

And yes sleeping is contagious.....it was not my fault that I followed his lead.

Rohit was just about to leave after a lesson in ART411. (Hint: Notice the slippers)
Then finally at the end of 4 years I decide to go to the library and find the 24hr facility being totally put to a good use. (If you zoom in you can see ORKUT.COM!!!!!) ironically the computer is meant for catalog search. The guy just happens to be searching another database for better matches.,while the guards dozes off..........(in his defense it was hot outside, the clock had just struck 2am and the AC was on!!!!!!!!...........come on....who are you to judge)Seriously exam is a weird time at IITK, you get to see a lot of crazy stuff.

iPhone

2008-04-10T02:11:00.000+05:30

My requests to Steveeeee….
First of all its a great phone or calling it that should be an crime punishable by law. It is the perfect blend of hardware and software the computer and the cell phone industry has seen in a long time, especially with Nokia trying to drag on its Series 60 OS on huge bricks which are heavy, bulky and expensive. After the launch of the phone the industry has seen all the other companies shake on their legs and produce new revolutionary prototypes. Even though is forced innovation its better for the customer.
My feature wishlist
•I would love to see landscape mode support for all the major apps that support typing like notes, SMS and most importantly mail. The landscape keyboard is really much more convenient and easy to use. It gives you a lot more screen estate and bigger keys lead to better accuracy. It is simple mathematics really.
•In addition handwriting recognition wouldn’t break my heart. I was seeing videos of Apple Newton Messenger pad 2100 the other day and it has great handwriting recognition software. It would also solve the major problem of copy paste text on the iPhone, which again is a feature on my wish list
•Settings to define sound alerts for applications like calendar. I mean it wouldn't hurt me if once in a while I am able to keep my word and turn up at the right place at the place and the iPhone has something to do with it.
•A more versatile Bluetooth. The Bluetooth on iPhone gives very limited functionality. It only allows one to connect to Bluetooth headsets which frankly I don't use a lot. I remember on my Nokia I really used some of the Bluetooth dependent features a lot, like wirelessly syncing my phone with the pc and file transfer. Wireless sync is very cool as the moment you walk into your room BOOM your contacts notes and other stuff is synchronized, especially through Bluetooth as compared to Wi-Fi as it’s lighter on the battery. But I hope Exchange server support in the future will help overcome this problem as it would remotely sync the essential stuff at least automatically.
•Talking of Sync I believe iPhone really needs some more apps from Apple to make it a complete smart phone. Like ToDo which could then be synchronized with Exchange services. Similarly Notes should also have exchange and sync support too. Another app it needs is a mini office suite or at least the ability to leave comments on pages while reviewing a file. Also the ability to store and view files from the iPhone HD and not from the mail menu which I have been doing. It’s great that people at Cupertino have finally decided to add a presentation viewer.
•Update: The new iPhone SDK is very cool especially the application interface builder and the built resource usage tester. I haven’t had a chance to actually try it as I am still waiting for my Mac book Pro but have seen tons of guides and videos. Plus I have been reading people giving it great feedback especially not so popular tech reporters
•Some of the applications I would like to see after V2.0 is launched apart from the above mentioned stuff
-A program to store my credit card information and password protect it.
-A simple photo editing software just for fun.
-A photo library uploading option to upload multiple picture to services like picasa and flickr.
I know…..some of them already exist through third party hacks but they are not commercial apps and in general lack professionalism sometime…no offence to third party developers…you guy have saved my life on more occasions than I can remember.

Sent form my iPhone

Skating Club

2008-04-08T07:01:00.000+05:30

The Core Team and a guy in blue t-shirt

Finally after months and months of work we have a skating club in campus not that anyone could have stopped us. I am proud to announce that this semester over 550 people participated in various activities of the club......ironically, cause the club officially came into existence yesterday.

Udaipur: The city of lakes

2008-04-08T06:43:00.000+05:30

Hi. Its a beautiful evening and I am Shubham reporting from Hall of residence 1,Geek land. It has been sometime since I last reported on the blog, but please don't give up on it. Its just that a last week during the Holi break I went to Udaipur and since I came back I have been in the holiday mode. The good news is that I had a lot of pictures thanks to my friend Prasoon who might I add selflessly took.

All I have to say about Udaipur:

Udaipur is a city studded with lakes in the beatuiful Aravali hills plated with a rich clutural history. It truly is a jewel in the Indian crown.

Some pics from my trip:

Lot more on http://picasaweb.google.com/shubham.goel

Exams!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-11T08:18:00.001+05:30

I was just on the phone with a friend and he pointed out that when ever I call him I have exams/quizzes starting or going on. Pondering on the thought I realized I had 3 exams per semester and a semester is almost 18 weeks long. That means I have exams almost ever 6 weeks. Now that seems perfectly normal for Undergraduate courses but this semester I have started with Graduate courses and things don't get better. I strongly feel that courses should be assignment based and that too weekly rather than an exam after 6 weeks 'cause in the later case students end up cramming 6 weeks of material overnight. Now If we have weekly assignments students will not only develop a better understanding of the subject but will also stay upto date as the course moves along. The better understanding cause ever week they will understand and revise what has just been taught. Now some of my professors have realized the value of regular assignments but the only problem is its just an add-on i.e. we now have exams+quizzes+assignments............just my darn luck :)