Here are some recent blog entries from Computer Talks:

Themed Gmail
You heard it. Google’s Gmail offers themes now. Now, how did I first come to know about this? I woke up yesterday night to download some important stuff, started the download, opened Gmail in browser, checked my emails, changed my status message in Gmail to “Sleeping”, let the browser remain open with Gmail, turned off the monitor of my PC, and went to my bed to have some sleep while the download was in progress. [more]

Emoticons (Smileys) in Gmail
Today, as I was reading a friend’s email, I noticed he had used smileys in his email. It was surprising as I had seen people attaching images with the email, but emoticons? And that not attached but embedded in the text itself. [more]

Forum post number in Google results
Today, while Googling casually, I found out an all new feature in the normal Google search results. [more]

Most Visited Webpage
Thanks to my faulty and irritating (BSNL broadband) Internet connection, my most visited webpage is one of those frustrating default pages of Firefox (yup, you guess it; I am a Firefox user). [more]

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Windows Vista and Ubuntu Linux - both are totally disparate entities and I am talking about similarities? Yup, I sure am. And I have reasons to believe this.

Most of us know what Vista is. Vista is the latest edition to the most popular operating system (OS) lineup - Windows. For those who are unfamiliar with Ubuntu, Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux-based OS that is available for free.

Here I discuss some of the similarities that I have noted in due course of my usage of both the operating systems.

Computer
In both, the name given to the central access point to all the disks and partitions on a computer is “Computer”. In earlier versions of Windows, we used to know it with the name “My Computer”.

Sub-folders in user profile folder
The default folders present in the user profile folder (or the home folder) are something like - Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos - in both the OSes.

Graphical effects
Starting from Ubuntu 7.10, both the OSes have given stress on providing graphical desktop effects to the end user. In Ubuntu, the effects are a result of Compiz Fusion software. In Vista, the most common and appealing effect is Flip 3D.

Creation of a new folder
When a new file/folder is created within another folder in either of the OS, the newly created item rearranges itself automatically in alphabetical order with respect to the other items contained by the parent folder. This wasn’t the case in earlier versions of Windows.

Renaming file
When a file is renamed (by right-clicking and choosing “Rename” or by pressing F2) in either of OSes, only the name of the file is selected, leaving the file extension unselected.

Navigation strip
When a folder within a folder within a folder (and so on…) is visited, a navigation strip appears near the top of the explorer/file manager window. In both the OSes, this navigation strip is very similar looking and a helpful aid.

Verdict
Does this imply anything? Were Vista’s features inspired by Ubuntu? Or Ubuntu’s features by Vista? Or neither of the cases. It’s upto you to decide.

Note: The similarities between Vista and Ubuntu are primarily because of the desktop environment used by Ubuntu - GNOME. So, these similarities are common between Vista and many other Linux distributions that use the latest version of GNOME.

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If you are a Linux user, worry not. Using Wine, you can easily play for favorite games made using Shockwave. Wine is a software that allows running Windows applications on Linux. Wine is an open-source, free software, and is now available as a stable 1.0 version.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Install the latest version of Wine.
2. Install the latest version of Shockwave for Windows using Wine. To do that, open command-line (Konsole/Terminal) and cd to the folder where Shockwave’s installer has been stored. Next, issue the command: wine Shockwave_Installer_Slim.exe. This will install Shockwave as it does in Windows.
3. Next, install the latest version of Mozilla Firefox for Windows using Wine, in the similar way as above.
4. After it’s installation, open Firefox, go to the desired URL containing your favorite Shockwave application, and viola! The Shockwave application is ready to be used.

The screenshot in the beginning of this post shows Miniclip’s Table Tennis game being played in Google Chrome installed in Linux using Wine.

[ To installed Google Chrome using Wine on Linux, refer to this excellent tutorial ]

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Remember the little, cute Jumbled Words Game I prepared in Python? More than 4 months had passed since I made it, and now it was time it got some makeover. So, featuring a host of new improvements, here I am making the improved game available for download.

Installing and playing is easy. Just to remind the readers, the game is made in Python using the wxPython libraries for the graphical interface (GUI).

The Python source was converted into a Windows executable (.exe) using py2exe. An installer was made out of the executable using InnoSetup. Both are freely available for download and very easy to use. I’ll come up with a Linux executable soon. And maybe a Python Egg?

Changelog:
1. Words are now read from a text file
2. The words read from text file are jumbled automatically & randomly
3. Changed splash image
4. Improved font system
5. Score system
6. Improved overall interface

The various downloads are:

• Setup - install the game from this like any normal application (Windows)
• Zipped - just extract the zipped file and double-click on JumbledGUI.exe to play (Windows)
• Source - the source code of the game in a zipped file (cross-platform)

I hope you like it. You may encounter bugs. If so, do let me know. Also, I would be happy to get some feedback from you regarding this little app.

Credits: The game was improved with suggestions and inputs from DaniWeb.com.

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It was yet another quality show from the well known dj’s interactive. It’s a known fact that good shows end on time, and that’s what happened to LRL. The same happened to Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin (a previous popular dj’s show) a few years back. Although instead of pulling the story pointlessly it’s a good idea to end the show with honor, LRL deserved a few more seasons. There was no doubt about it being still one of the coolest and popular shows in India, and had a totally different storyline.

The show is being replaced by yet another dj’s venture - Jugni Challi Jalandhar (Jalandhar? Hey, that’s my town!). Let’s see what special does it have that it was able to replace LRL.

My favorite show, of the recent times, is over now. LRL, I’ll always miss you!

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Simply hats off to it! A brilliant and rare combination of a thriller script, excellent performances, state-of-art direction and moral value.

Very rare will you find such movies in the Bollywood industry, where most of the movies’ stories are derived from Hollywood or the films are made keeping in mind the action and comedy loving population.

It was a relatively short movie, as compared to the normal Bollywood standards, but its every minute was full of thrill. The film was devoid of any songs, contrary to 95% Indian movies, to make sure the quality of entertainment (which we get from the thrilling and chilling moments) does not fade away.

It seemed that Naseeruddin Shah put all of his life’s experience behind his stunning performance in the film, and he admitted that in a recent interview published in a local newspaper. Anupam Kher’s was also a brilliant performance. Other notable character was that of Jimmy Shergill; his was an impressive personality.

I just hope that more of such movies are made in Bollywood and we get to see such moral imparting stories in future. Other good reason to make such films is that people would get variety!

Finally, the movie shows the world that Bollywood is also capable of making excellent movies, as is Hollywood, and does not shy in making such movies with the fear of getting lesser revenues. 10 out of 10.

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The Downloads page here has been updated by new stuff, like a report-cum-seminar on Introduction to Linux - A beginner’s approach. I have also updated the Resume page with the latest version of my resume. Further updates have come in the Movies section too, with myself giving my views and reviews on the about the movies I watched recently - Ocean’s Twelve, Good Will Hunting, Rock On!!, Equilibrium and The Spiderwick Chronicles.

I am also working on improving the Jumbled Words game I prepared in Python some time ago.

The college is going fine but with tight schedules. Also, perheps, it’s time to change my modem as it has been giving my constant annoyances since more than two weeks and giving me hindrance in coming online. I am just frustrated due to it!

Assignments from college are pouring in, and so are the little and big projects from the HOD and the Computer Center in my department in college.

Cricket season is off these days. I am waiting for the forthcoming Australia-India test series to begin.

I am finding the Cryptography subject, a part of my college curriculum, very interesting.

PC-BSD 7 has been released which is looking pretty interesting at the moment, though I have yet to try it out. A pretty software I tried out recently was Elisa (media center application), built entirely in Python. It’s a good app, though not fully functional yet and hosts quite some annoying bugs. But the aesthetics are pleasing.

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