As Vice-Chair of INFITT I am pleased to announce that the next Tamil Internet Conference TIC 2009 will be held in Europe, at the Institute of Indology and Tamil Studies of the University of Cologne in Germany during October 23-25, 2009. Tamil Internet Conferences of INFITT are major events for computer professionals and Tamil Diaspora working in the area of Tamil Computing and Tamil Internet. Tamil Internet Conference 2009 is the Eighth in the series, with earlier ones held in Singapore (1997, 2000, 2004) , Chennai (1999, 2003), Kuala Lumpur (2001), and San Francisco (2002). Interested participants are encouraged to register online at http://www.infitt.org/ti2009/

தமிழ் இணைய மாநாடு 2009 பத்திரிகையாளர் சந்திப்பு: இவ்வாண்டின் தமிழ் இணைய மாநாடு வரும் அக்டோபர் 23ம் தேதி முதல் 25ம் தேதி வரை ஜெர்மனியில் நடைபெறவுள்ளது. உத்தமம் அமைப்பும், கோலொன் பல்கலைக் கழகமும் இணைந்து நடத்தும் இந்த சர்வதேச மாநாட்டின் விவரங்களை பகிர்ந்து கொள்ள டாக்டர் மு.ஆனந்த கிருஷ்ணன் (அண்ணா பல்கலைக்கழக முன்னாள் துணைவேந்தர்) பத்திரிகையாளர்களை சந்தித்தார். மா.ஆண்டோ பீட்டர் மற்றும் நானும் உடனிருந்தோம்.

மாநாட்டில் அளிப்பதற்குரிய கட்டுரைகளை இந்த ஆண்டு ஆகஸ்டு 15க்குள்   http://www.infitt.org/ti2009/ என்ற  இணையதளத்தில் பதிவு செய்யலாம். வல்லுநர் குழுவால் தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்படும் கட்டுரைகள் மாநாட்டில் விவாதத்திற்கு எடுத்துக் கொள்ளப்படும்

What do you call in Tamil new technology trends like Twitter, Tweets and Micro blogging?. Today in a press meet where I talked about that these trends are catching up amongst Tamil writers, I was asked this question. I come home thinking and guess what I receive a Tweet from Dr.Na.Ganesan (NASA, USA) with the answer in his blog post, as if he has read my mind. 

முனைவர் நாக. கணேசன் நான் துணை தலைவராகயிருக்கும் உத்தமம் என்ற தன்னார்வ அமைப்பின் வட அமெரிக்கா தலைவராக உள்ளார்,  ஒருங்குறியில் மிக தேர்ச்சிப் பெற்றவர். என் ஐயத்திற்கு அவரின் விடைக் கீழே (வள்ளுவரிலிருந்து உதாரணத்தோடுக்கூடிய அவரின் அருமையான விளக்கம் அவரின் பதிவில் இங்கே):

• Twitterer என்றால் "சிட்டு”
• Tweet என்றால் "சிட்டி"
• Microblog என்றால் "நுண்பதிவு"

ஆஹா. என்ன அற்புதமான தமிழ் வார்த்தைகளை கொடுத்துள்ளார் முனைவர் நாக. கணேசன் அவர்கள், அவருக்கு என் நன்றி. இது போல எனக்கு பிடித்த எளிமையான அழகான தமிழ் தகவல் தொழில்நுட்ப சொற்கள் சில:

• செல்பேசி - Mobile Phone
• வலைப்பூக்கள்  - Blogs
• வலைப்பூ - Blog
• பதிவு - Blog Post
• இணையம் - Internet
• கணினி / கணி - Computer

Today in one of the groups I am a member, there was a question on the cost benefits of Windows 7 over Windows XP. In these recessionary times, everything is about cost and RoI. No CIO is interested to spend on an upgrade just for technology sake. With that background this was an interesting question, so I set out to answer him, which I have reproduced below.

The first answer for such a question is that any new version of any software product improves “productivity” by XY%, where XY are dependent on how you feel on that day.

Jokes apart, in my opinion I think the upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 saves cost by the following:

1. Productivity, certainly. Common tasks are easier and faster. For example with the built-in Windows Search, finding documents really saves you time. And for techies tasks like IPConfig /Renew can be done from GUI itself
2. Avoid recreating lost documents. Built in version-control and transaction file-system in Windows 7 (Vista has this too)
3. Avoid bandwidth costs by some Spammers using your Windows XP as a SpamBots or Zombies with better stateful firewall (Inbound and Outbound) in Windows 7 (Vista has this too)
4. Data Theft, Security and reinstall time spend with UAC in Windows 7 (Easier to use than in Vista)
5. Less power consumption through better sleep/hibernate support
6. Save time by building web standards Web Applications with built-in Internet Explorer 8.0
7. Save time and cost with built-in CD Burning, DVD Maker (Vista has this too)
8. My personal favourite is an enhanced System Restore (life saver) and time saved with fixing a rogue software install (Vista has this too)
9. A superb Windows Backup (this alone is worth every dollar of Windows 7). Third party products purchased separately for Windows XP store in proprietary backup file formats, where as Windows 7 (as in Vista) uses open VHD file format. This VHD files can be mounted and read/write natively in Windows 7
10. Built-in hardware enhanced virtualization free – Windows Virtual PC, which helps you to continue to run older applications
11. Save time with the more powerful task scheduler (so you don’t need to keep your machine switched ON or be there to run a program)
12. If you are a games developer, Windows 7 saves time by better 3D hardware accelerated graphics support/DirectX
13. Built-in applications like Snipping tool to take screen shots and so on (Vista has this too)

Microsoft has published a "Windows client features comparison chart" between Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista and Windows 7 here.

Recently I came across a problem from one of my friends. Whenever he browses to Yahoo! in Internet Explorer it was showing Google's favourite icon (Favicon) in browser address bar. He was confused. I then found the answer to the problem, which I am giving below.

When you navigate to a site, IE downloads the favicon and caches it in the temporary internet files folder, where the this favicon will be assigned a unique name and mapped to its URL. So for example, if you navigate to www.bing.com, IE will download the favicon from http://www.bing.com/favicon.ico and cache it as favicon[1].ico somewhere in the temporary internet files folder, and map it to http://www.bing.com/favicon.ico.

Now if you somehow remove this favicon file from the temporary internet files folder, without removing the mapping to its URL, then the cache entry http://www.bing.com/favicon.ico will point to a non-existent file. Now say you navigate to http://my.yahoo.com, and IE downloads the favicon from http://my.yahoo.com/favicon.ico to the SAME favicon[1].ico file in the temporary internet file folder, then the cache entry http://www.bing.com/favicon.ico will be mapping to the yahoo favicon.So the next time you go on http://www.bing.com, IE will query the cache and incorrectly think that the favicon for this site has already been downloaded and is available on file. It will load the favicon[1].ico for http://my.yahoo.com, and hence the wrong favicon will be displayed.

Ordinarily you cannot remove a file from the Temporary internet files folder without also removing the file’s mapping. But you can do this by running the del /s command in  command line or possibly by using 3^rd party cache cleaning tools. Note that cleaning your temporary internet files folder through IE or the Internet Options Dialog will restore everything back to normal.

Saravana Stores in T.Nagar, Chennai is certainly a big success story of retail in India and comparable in their low price strategy only to Wal-Mart of USA.  I visited the “பிரமாண்டமாய்” store as it is called in Tamil after their popular launch TV ads few years back. I went with my wife and kid today evening as we wanted to buy a wall clock as gift for someone in the family. We dreaded the thought as the service in their stores are known to be bad to non-existent, and parking is impossible for miles around the store. Yet we braved it as we were looking for variety at a good price and nothing comes close to Saravana Stores for that combination.

Today was a normal working day so we presumed the crowd won’t be much – how wrong we were!. All the 7 floors were packed with people on every square inch, and each floor had over 100 of their staffs which made the place more crowded than it needs to be. If someone is brought blind-folded here they will certainly think some free distribution is going on here. You couldn’t see any item for more than 5 seconds in an aisle as you have to keep moving to give way to passing traffic. The management will do well for its customers if they remove one or two aisles in each floor to give more moving space.

All said, the varieties they have stocked in every item is as wide as it can get, it was incredible. Can you imagine, they have a whole floor in the annexure building for School Bags alone. If you consider Big Bazaar (BB) to be there competitor then BB will have only 20% of the variety Saravana Store has. After a 30 minute unforgettable shopping experience we came out in one piece. My 6 year old son being the most happiest of all – with 4 toys on his hand. I was happy too, as I spent only Rs.50 per toy against 10 times of that if I had gone to any other toy store in the city.

This is an update to the earlier post on my experiences with getting my XBOX 360 US version work in India, it was basically how I got a 220V Power Adaptor for XBOX 360 in India.

There are two options to get a 220V (India) Power Adaptor for your XBOX 360:

1. The XBOX 360 220V Adaptor I was using stopped working, may be because of the frequent voltage fluctuations in Chennai for last few months. Hence I went back to Ritchie Street and bought a new one. This time I made it a point to note down the shop name for benefit of others (and may be for myself again) as this was most asked in the comments I received for the earlier post. I purchased a new XBOX 360 220V Power Adaptor (without warranty) for Rs.2500 + VAT from "Shah Trading Co.", 15, Narasingapuram Street, Off. Mount Road, Chennai - 600002; Phone: 044-2841 5874.
2. After this, I contacted Microsoft Support in India and asked whether they have a solution now?. Surprisingly this time around, they right away offered a solution. They asked me to go a near by service center in Chennai and drop the original 110V (USA) power adaptor. Within 20-30 days of doing this, I received a replacement of a new 220V power adaptor absolutely free. Great service by Microsoft, keep it up. You can contact  Microsoft support in India at toll-free 1800 102 1100 and select Option 7 for XBOX support. Please keep your XBOX 360 Serial number, original purchase invoice handy with you when you call and request them for a replacement to make your XBOX 360 US version to work in India. Considering that officially XBOX 360 support is available only in the region you bought I was lucky to get this replacement in India. I feel this replacement offer is a nice gesture by Microsoft and note that it is available only for original XBOX 360 accessories (not third-parties made).

I just now watched this documentary movie “HOME” by Director Yann Arthus-Bertrand (a french photographer and world renowned environmentalist). The full movie is available in HD Quality free in Youtube from yesterday till 14th June 2009. Don’t miss this opportunity to watch this must see movie.

I came to my office on a Saturday today so I can watch the movie in High Definition (HD) with the high-bandwidth that is available in the office – the privileges of being the CEO .  The quality was amazing, unbelievable it was playing over the Internet. Like I mentioned last year when I watched “Casino Royale (1967)” in HD from Hulu.com, the availability of these high quality content over the Internet is now becoming more and more wide stream than ever. These compel me to predict that in next 10 years we will see the end of distribution of entertainment content (movies and songs) in any physical form – it will happen much faster than the best of Internet evangelists have dreamed of and it will happen even in developing countries like India at nearly the same pace.

Coming back to the movie “HOME”, the documentary chronicles how life on earth came into existence 4 Billions years back, how we humans came into existence 200,000 years back and how we started farming 10,000 years back. This background helps you to understand and appreciate the destruction we are making on our planet, after the discovery of OIL and our dependence on it. The movie emphasizes the fact of how all organisms and the Earth are linked in a "delicate but crucial" balance with each other, and how no organism can be self-sufficient. I really liked the fact, the movie didn’t end with a pessimistic note of all being lost on climate change, but on a positive note that worldwide change is happening (though in pockets) and we can reverse the trends.

I purchased the DVD of this movie during my US trip last year, but never managed to get interested to even open the case. Today evening I had few hours to kill, so went and saw this movie. The DVD is two-sided you have the normal 2D version in Side-A, and the 3D version in Side-B; and it ships with 4 pairs of 3D glasses to view.

"Journey to the center of the earth" is a 2008 version of the story inspired by the book by "Jules Verne" (the famous science fiction author who wrote classics like Around the world in 80 days). The 3D experience right in your home was awesome. I have read the original novel in my childhood and I had then enjoyed it thoroughly. The movie's story line is weak and the movie could have been taken much better especially with such a powerful background theme. Several glaring gaps exists - how come they don't get burned on their way down and then way up accelerating at tremendous speed; how is there a gravity in the center of the earth?

My suggestion will be to give this movie a miss!