Sending colour pictures over SMS

Ever tried sending a photograph using your cellphone ? I'm sure your answer to that is "Yeah, MMS !". But thats not what i'm talking about.

Not too long ago, i tried sending an Address Book contact from my Nokia 6630, and noticed that the contact details would be sent in a message 15 pages long. Puzzled, i tried to figure out the reason for this. And a few seconds later, i realized that the contact, had a thumbnail attached to it.

Shortly thereafter, i sent a friend a business card with a thumbnail attached, by SMS. He received the business card alright. And the thumbnail too ! What i'm trying to figure out now, is how to send just the picture over SMS. The pitfall here is that as the image size increases, so will the message size. And it wouldn't be too surprising to see a tiny thumbnail requiring 30 texts to be transferred.

The procedure -
On your Series60 phone
Create a new contact
Attach a thumbnail
Send Contact by text message, with All Details

Time capsule missing?

Tragic. But hehahahahahaha !

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A time capsule buried in Singapore's main sports stadium in 1970 and containing coins, newspapers and sports memorabilia has gone missing, the Today newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing local officials.

The Singapore Sports Council has hired contractors to scour the stadium, including the VIP car park, for the missing metal capsule, which is about the size of a suitcase and was buried under the National Stadium's foundations, Today said.

Singapore's National Stadium -- the venue for sporting events as well as the annual national day parade -- is due to be torn down later this year to make way for a new sports complex. "The Singapore Sports Council is now in the process of locating the capsule," Patrick Lee, a Singapore Sports Council official was quoted as saying in Today.

Maybe it was just a placebo :P

Sandisk Sansa e250 Review

Hello there,
I recently picked up a Sandisk Sansa e250 i.e 2GB MP3 player for around $100. Well it wasn't recent, it was over 5 months ago. Anyhow, i needed a player that could play videos, and let me listen to music. and it had to be a sub $100 player. One of the many players that fit the bill was the Sansa. And what made me partial towards it, was the fact that it had just been released. So, i had the player bought, and shipped into India.

Photographs





The Opinion
The sansa is a great player to look at as is evident from the pictures above. It is on the thicker side, however, it feels great in the hand. The body is glossy, and as a result, fingerprints settle on it pretty easily. However, the body is supposedly scratch resistant with the toughened alloy (Liquidmetal) back plate. The back panel is pretty damn strong, but not resistant to finger prints :)

In the pictures above, you might be able to see a screen protector applied on the screen.. This is not a standard accessory however. The buttons do lack a tactile feedback. The jog dial wheel however feels great. The buttons are just about average. The Sansa comes with an exclusive record button to record voice. Recording time depends on free space on the player. The sansa also sports a neat Record from Radio feature, which lets you record directly from the radio. The Sansa can function in MTP mode, where it would be detected as a Portable Music Device, or in MSC mode, where it would be detected as a Mass Storage Device.

On one of the side profiles of the player, you'll notice a little slot. This is a microSD card slot, which allows memory expansion. Sandisk also markets Gruvi content cards. the cards fit into this slot too. Apart from these, the player has the regular Hold button.

The screen on the Sansa is bright and clear, although it is a little on the smaller side. However, this won't matter much unless you plan on using the player for watching movies alone. The display, a 1.8" TFT is sufficient, however.

The menu is driven by the jog dial and is pretty intuitive. One gets the feel of an iPod's user interface for a moment, with the menus... However, that feeling is done away with pretty quickly, as one notices the lack of an alphabetical search feature. Only one playlist can be created in the player, and that too by selecting songs manually from the list. Dividing up tracks into folders doesn't help, as the Sansa doesn't show you a Tree view, or even folders for that matter. All tracks are just dumped into one big list. However, with a capacity of 2GB, it shouldn't be hard to go through the list to find what you're looking for.

Tracks can be played by hitting the centre button. On playing a song, the jog dial turns into the volume control. The volume setting in the Settings menu allows you to switch between a Normal mode, and a Loud mode. The normal mode is suitable for users who prefer music at a moderate volume. Loud, is suitable for users who prefer listening close to the envelope of deafness. Audio quality is good at moderate volumes, however distortion is audible at higher volumes. Even without a track playing, a faint hiss is audible in the earphones.

The player has a Video feature which lets you play converted videos. Conversion is done by the Sansa Media Converter which is shipped on a disc with the package. Conversion quality is decent, however, converted file are bloated.

The Sansa also features a Photo gallery, which lets users transfer photographs onto the player, through the Sansa Media Converter. All photographs are downsized, and rotated to suit the orientation of the screen, by the converter. Photographs may be viewed as slideshows, with music playing in the background, and even arranged into albums. A good feature, i must add :)

The FM Radio feature lets you digitally scan for radio stations. The Sansa will also let you auto scan the frequency band, and create presets for radio stations picked up. As i mentioned earlier, you can record radio transmissions too :)

And the last feature, and certainly one of the best, is the track rating feature. Every track you listen to, can be rated on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the highest. When you set the player to "Shuffle", songs with the highest rating are played more often, than songs with a lower rating or no rating. In effect, you hear the songs you like, more often :) While songs play, track information is displayed on the screen. Hitting the center button scrolls through this information, and displays a full size image of the album cover, if available. An equalizer with several presets such as Rock, Pop, Full Bass,... lets you tweak your music for the best hearing experience. A Custom preset, lets you set the equalizer manually. The player is compatible with Microsoft PlaysForSure services like Rhapsody and Napster.

The Sansa comes with a Lithium Ion Rechargable battery pack. Recharging the device is as simple as plugging it into a USB port. A full charge will last you for around 12 hours. Sandisk advertises a 20hour battery life, playing 128kbps tracks. However, higher the bitrate, higher the discharge of the batteries.

The Sansa is shipped with a pair of earphones, which aren't too good. They sound like a cheap pair. Also in the package, is a lanyard loop, carrying pouch, USB cable, and a manual along with the CD.

Features:

Sleek, thin design with large 1.8” TFT color screen for easy viewing
Strong alloy metal casing provides excellent durability and scratch resistance
Simple to use, backlit controls for fast device interface navigation
User replaceable and rechargeable Lithium Ion battery for up to 20 hours of battery life (Based on continuous playback at 128 kbps MP3; rechargeable batteries may eventually need to be replaced as they have limited charge cycles (which vary with use and settings)
Features microSD™ expansion slot for additional memory capacity
Supports SanDisk TrustedFlash and Gruvi content cards
Digital FM tuner*, on-the-fly FM recording*, and voice recording
No FM-tuner (and no FM-recording) is available in Europe
Supports Subscription Music Stores
One year warranty
* not available in Europe

Minimum System Requirements

• Windows XP
• Windows Media Player 10+
• Intel Pentium class PC or higher
• CD-ROM drive
• USB 2.0 port required for hi-speed transfer

Package Contents

Sansa e200 Series Player
Travel pouch and lanyard
Stereo headphones
Lithium Ion rechargeable battery
USB cable
Quick Start Guide, CD with User Guide, & additional flyer inserts

Pros:

• Looks great
• Not too expensive
• Amazing feature set (read above)
• Compatible with Microsoft PlaysForSure services like Rhapsody and Napster.
• Strong Liquidmetal backplate is scratch resitant.
  

Cons:

• Below average firmware. However, this should be fixed in a few months as bugs are stamped out. Sandisk does provide an updater for Firmware updates. This is available for download on their site, and upon installing, automatically checks for updates whenever your player is plugged in. *ALSO CHECK END OF THIS POST*
  
• Glossy body is prone to finger prints and scratches
• Playlists not supported, no search feature
  
• Audio quality suffers at high volume.

Conclusion:
The Sansa e250 is a great buy if you're on a tight budget and looking for an MP3 and video player. Firmware might seem like an issue right now, but fixes are under way, including a Rockbox mod which is under development. A great buy on the whole.

EDIT (17th Oct 2007): Though i haven't used it, the new iPod Nano looks great. I would rate the iPod's audio quality several notches above the Sansa's. Comparing a Sansa to an iPod would be foolish, and given a choice between the two, i'd choose an iPod.

The Story:
2 months after i received the player, the horrid firmware borked out my player. After repeated attempts to resuscitate the device failed since the device was in the MTP mode and couldn't be formatted, Sandisk asked me to ship the Sansa to Bombay for an RMA. Sandisk shipped me a brand new Sansa e250 at no cost. The e250 i received was a newer version, and is the one in the pictures above. The new e250 hasn't given me any problems so far. I guess Sandisk stamped out the bugs that existed on the previous version of the Sansa.

There were hassles with Indian Customs Officials when the package arrived, but Sandisk handled the complete situation. Three cheers for their professionalism.

Photography ? Me?

greetings :)
i'm bored now, and as i couldn't do much other than this, heres what i did. :)


thinking "Ghetto" ? not quite..


its a wired world...


the storm's coming...

cheers
wu

Money, Markets & Reverse Offshoring

Well hello..
The monsoons have just started and i'm freezing. Thats a good feeling. It's been a few months since the last round of recruitments at the IIMs and other top business schools here in India. And the media, are doing their bit.

Lets start from the beginning. In the early 90's India, especially Bangalore, saw a large number of software and technology firms set up shop. And as the years went by, this trend turned into boom. It would be interesting to note the reasons for this sudden mushrooming of these firms in the country. Could one attribute this to a sudden spurt in entrepreneurs in the country? Perhaps, but the strongest reason for companies to have set shop here would be costs. Back in the 90s, Bangalore was a small city, with empty roads, abundant green cover and clean air. But most importantly, it was an economical place to live in. Cost of living was much lower than the metros, and the government back then was supposedly in favour of tech industries coming into the state. As i'm told, the Govt. of Karnataka offered incentives for companies setting up campuses in the city. Ranging from tax holidays to land and throw away prices, companies had every reason to step into Bangalore. And one of the best reasons, was talent. Bangalore had and still has, a large skilled talent pool, and 10 years ago, putting this talent to good use wouldn't cost firms as much as it would abroad. Thus, it was a wise idea to set up large work teams in the city, and have them work on projects for various international clients. And so was born the concept of Offshoring..

Starry eyed kids would often be overheard saying how they wanted to become "Computer Engineers" when they became "big", even though they hadn't a clue as to what they'd be doing as computer engineers. Coding was what people did, and it was what they were paid for. And in the mid 90s, taking home 8k a month was considered a big deal. Thats how much was paid back then. Compare that to now.

An Infosys fresher would receive compensation to the tune of 3.2lac p.a.. And increments every 6 months to a year would send that figure skyrocketing in no time. And Infosys is just the start. Google, pays 12lac p.a., according to a leading fresher's portal. And it isn't surprising why.

Every year, when a new batch of the IIMs is done with it's campus recruitments, the newspapers carry overly enthusiastic stories on the fat pay packets of these infant future-CEOs.
And though these stories leave all us innocent blog-folk amazed at how intelligent these young guys are, they also tend to have a darker side. Now consider everything i said earlier about tech firms setting up in Bangalore, or even the country. As i had mentioned, costs were low. Skilled people weren't as "expensive" as they'd be anywhere else in the world. And now look at the situation. Poof! The little dream cloud just vanished. The reason these companies came into the country, no longer exists. Costs have taken the upward spiral here too. And paying 2.5crore p.a for an IIM grad is a big deal. Not that i'm trying to question the quality of an IIM graduate, nor do i seek justification from someone who hires an IIM grad for 2.5crore p.a. :)

What i'm trying to imply, however, is that the market tends to follow what is put before them. Graduates look at the packages these business school blokes are offered, and suddenly feel the itch. "3.2lac just ain't enough for me to code. i must be paid more.." And as a result, costs go up again.

The national media makes such a big fuss out of these recruitments, that it simply screws up the markets, in short. Suddenly employees feel the need to be compensated more for the work they're doing. And employers are forced to oblige, given the fact that the quality of skilled labour available has gone down several notches.

There are over a 100 engineering colleges in Karnataka. However, the best companies recruit engineers only from the top 5 odd colleges in the state. That too, just a handful. Consider this wild calculation

If every college in the state produces atleast 50 Computer Science Engineers every year, it would translate to 5000 graduates every year.

However, product companies such as SunGard, Google, Huawei pick up less than 10 graduates each when visiting a campus for recruitments. And remember, these companies visit only the top 5 colleges. What happens to the remaining grads? Is there a reason why most of them don't have jobs? The shocking answer, which industry experts now dole out to everyone who asks, with a certain amount of self satisfaction, is that these engineers are not QUALITY engineers. One would wonder what a "quality" engineer is. As it turns out, the system for engineering education is founded on scoring marks, and not on innovation or any other school of thought you may have associated engineering with. And as a result, you're left with a breed of robots, who derive when shown how, and calculate when given formulae and relevant data. This, is a result of the earlier dream cloud (the one which vanished). Everyone wants to get an engineering degree, and work for an IT firm, in their own town, with a dream pay packet. Thats it. Thats the dream. And as hordes of people push forward to realize this dream, what gets lost is the passion to learn, to discover, and to invent. And this has been going on for so long, that the system just adapted to the needs of the masses, and stopped catering for the ones who joined an engineering programme, for the engineering part of it.

Wheres this headed? Recently, TATA Consultancy Services said in a press release, that it was cheaper for them to hire an American to work in the US for an American client, than send an Indian to the US to do the same work. What does this imply? What happened in the 90's in India, has just taken a U-turn. Jobs which earlier poured into India, now seem to be trickling back into the International markets. It may not be noticeable at this stage, but it will be evident in the future. It doesn't go to say that it would be the death of Offshoring. Offshoring would be alive well past you and i, however, the magnitude at which it took place in the past, will be hard to replicate in the future. Atleast for us.

Universities are waking up to this rude fact. Changes are being made in the system. Syllabi are being made advanced in order for the next line of engineers to be armed with cutting edge knowledge.

The good news is that it won't leave anyone discontent. Jobs will require more commitment, and getting them will require even more of it. The distinction between innovators and workers will become evident. The hierarchy of the creators, implementors and users will show itself in the near future.

The trend will shift from localization of corporate resources, to spreading out over multiple locations in order to absorb the best from every environment. This hopefully, will be successful in creating a healthier global work environment, with better productivity and efficiency. In all probability, we should all get to see it within our lifetimes.

Unless some newspaper carries another "Highest Salary" story again. :)

cheers
wu

Need a new Dell battery? Prepare to wait

I really don't know whether to laugh at this, or straighten my face.. The hilarious part is that they have almost a 100000 new batteries to ship out.. The serious part is that these batteries are a fire hazard.. This leads me to wonder if warranty claims and faulty product replacements are causing Dell's profits to tumble. Is it a sign of bad build/component quality in Dell notebook computers ?

Source : The BusinessWeek Online

I hope Dell computer owners like classical music, because they'll hear a lot of it when they're on hold to order replacement batteries for their notebooks.

After Dell Inc., the world's biggest computer maker, recalled 4.1 million batteries due to a potential fire hazard on Monday, panicky Dell computer owners clogged up the recall hot line, driving wait times up to roughly 30 minutes.

Armed with nothing but determination and a dose of gumption, I figured I'd give the battery replacement hot line a shot. I wasn't motivated by self-interest -- I don't personally own a Dell laptop -- but I did have a driving force: My editor asked me to do it.The first 10 times I called the number, I encountered a vaguely pleasant, but dead-end message from a woman urging me to hang up and order my battery online for faster service. At the end of the message, I was treated to a busy signal before being disconnected altogether.

At this point, most Dell computer owners might give up on the hot line and try to order their batteries online. Even that option may not be so simple, though, since you'd probably want to take the recalled battery out, which leaves you dependent on the AC power adapter to stay powered up and online.

I wasn't deterred and after seven minutes of redialing the 1-866 number, I finally got a different recording that told me to wait about 15 minutes to speak to a representative. I was expecting the delay to be long.

After 21 minutes of listening to Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons," and repeated assurances that my call is very important to Dell, I finally got through to a customer service rep who explained that the company is recalling the batteries because Dell doesn't want to "take any chances."

"We don't want to have your house catch on fire or anything," she said.

How should I send it back?

"After you qualify for a new battery, we'll send you one with a prepaid box to return the old one for proper disposal," she said.

Although she suggested I immediately remove the battery and use the AC adapter and power cord to run my computer, I was told I wouldn't be able to get my hands on a replacement battery for up to 20 business days, by way of DHL. My offers to pay an additional $25 to get the battery rushed were politely declined.

Dell spokeswoman Gretchen Miller acknowledged the long telephone delays, saying the company had already received 90,000 orders for new batteries.

While Dell's corporate customers in many cases are able to deal directly with sales representatives, she suggested that consumers use the Internet site, http://www.dellbatteryprogram.com, for faster service.

Also see : Fire Hazard Causes Dell To Recall Laptop Batteries

K&N Replacement Air Filter : Santro Xing

I got my Xing, named Charlotte (after Kristin Davis' character in Sex and the City), as a present on my 18th birthday. This Forest Dew coloured hatchback is one cool car. It comes loaded with a really quick, and powerful engine. It is fuel efficient, and does great in the city. However, that wasn't good enough for me. :D


I found out from the Hyundai service guy, Prithvin, that i had several options when it came to modifying my engine.. I could simply change the air filters to a performance set, change the intake system, or change the fuel injection system.

A performance K&N air filter is a Nylon based washable filter. The OEM filter is a paper one, and cannot be washed.. The K&N can pull in 440CFM of air, while the OEM filter can do just about 320CFM. The more air the intake system can pull in, the better..

The issue, however, is that for higher performance, the volume of air being pulled into the engine isn't the only factor. The velocity of this air also plays an important part. A performance intake system rids the engine of the air box, and replaces it with a single metal tube, with a conical air filter at the end. The conical air filter allows over 800CFM of air to be pulled in, while ensuring high velocity. As a result, performance of the engine is boosted by 10%, and a heavenly vroom sound induced into the engine :)

A replacement air filter costs INR 3500 while an intake system such as the K&N Typhoon would cost INR 7000. I settled for the the performance air filter for now. The moment i had this filter installed, the pickup had improved, and acceleration was a lot smoother. I've had this filter for a month now, and i've noticed that the car is a little more efficient when it comes to fuel. The difference can be seen particlularly between the second and third gear, where the acceleration is simply superb, even better than the acceleration of the stock engine.

The replacement filter is worth the dough, and you'll see the difference the moment you have it installed.. Replacement takes 10minutes, and the filter is claimed to last for 100000 miles before needing a replacement. Regular cleaning and tuning ensures top notch performance at all times.

I will be switching to the Typhoon intake system shortly. Will update you once i've had it installed.

Sony MDR-XD100 Stereo Headphones

Once again, my pockets were feeling a bit heavy, and i was out on the look out for interesting stuff to buy.. My trusty little sony headphones which came with my dead discman weren't seeming so great anymore. I came across the Sony MDR-XD100 at an online store on fine morning. They looked great, and came with a lengthy cable. I said, what the heck, and ordered one.

It arrived a couple of days later in a neat package with the following

• Headphones
• Unimatch adapter
• Documentation

The first thing you notice when you pull the headphones out of its packaging, is the length of it's audio cable. at approximately 10feet long, i doubt you'd have any problems with yanking the connector out during an exciting fragfest.. The design will strike you as flimsy, but it is anything but that. My XDR100 has survived quite a few falls off my desk, and needless to say, it looks, and sounds perfect.

The headphones are very comfortable to wear, and the neat gap in the headband provides for a perfect fit, on any head.. :) The cans are padded with leatherette, which is quite successful in blocking out any external noise. The cans are contoured on the inside, allowing the user to wear it in just one way. This, however, ensures that the output sound is clearer, and is directed towards your ear.

The XD100's have a good frequency range, wider than the human hearing range.. The bass on these phones is average~good, while the mid-high range sounds are simply superb..

Technical Specs :

Max. Power Handling	1500 mW
Plug Material	Gold
Compatibility	Studio
Driver Unit Size	40 mm
Impedance	70 ohm
Weight	6 oz.
Volume Control	Without Volume Control
Frequency Response	12 - 22000 Hz
Design	Over the Head
Usage	Consumer
Cable Length	11.48 ft.
Sensitivity	100 dB
Sound Mode	Stereo

Pros:
Economical, Good sound reproduction, long cable, snug fit
Cons:
Above average Bass, Flimsy appearance

Conclusion :
The MDR-XD100 is perfect for amateurs, and general users, looking for good and clear sound at a low price. These cans are available on Amazon for $13, which is pretty cheap considering the performance these offer. Also look for the XD200 and the XD300, in the same series.

Welcome to Wu Space

Hello and Welcome to Wu Space,
I'm Wu and i intend to use this blog to rant about everything from technology to traffic jams, in the hope that it helps innocent beings in their quest for the meaning of life, and booze. I also hope that it does the same for those not-so-innocent beings.

-Wu