Kindle to India: Frequently Asked Questions

I ordered an Amazon Kindle for a friend of mine.  Before ordering the Kindle, there were various doubts and apprehensions about it’s functionality, cost and shipping to India. It took me numerous Google searches to conclude that Kindle is a safe and good buy for someone in India.

Kindle (Global Wireless) Image source: Wikipedia.org

Subsequently, I placed an order on behalf of my friend and the Kindle was shipped to New Delhi, India to my residence in about 2 days. I got to setup, configure and play with this nifty device, before I could hand it over to my friend. Read the rest of this entry »

Twitter Updates for 2010-01-20

• TBA tomorrow RT @Microsoft Microsoft will release a security update out-of-band to help protect IE users http://bit.ly/6a8xzy ^LG #
• @singhinder Inderrrrrrrr in reply to singhinder #
• RT @firefox RT @mozhacks Firebug 1.5 has been released! Check out @robcee's post on hacks – http://bit.ly/73Vsxs #
• @vinodunny Whats up with your Win Mobile phone. It keeps calling me without ur command #
• Selenium: A Firefox addon for web apps testing http://seleniumhq.org/ #

Twitter Updates for 2009-11-29

• @anindyar correct me, if wrong. On HTC touch P3450 #Android runs on top of Windows Mobile & not natively. If yes, it works as per many usrs in reply to anindyar #
• Easy is to opt for custom development & difficult to develop on a platform. Former is successful in short run, latter runs longer #
• @anindyar oh ok. U may (u may have already ) browse thru XDA forum http://forum.xda-developers.com/ for answers (if any) in reply to anindyar #
• @vinodunny wonder what u were upto to find this , followed by @anindyar desperately trying to install Android on his Windows Mobile phone in reply to vinodunny #
• Second #PHP project using ORM via Active Record in Prado http://bit.ly/5U3csY On the way to forget SQL? #
• Totem Movie Player using Subtitle Downloader plugin, downloads .srt files in directory $HOME/.cache/totem/subtitles/ #Linux #
• Besides showing ReTweets, @Twidroid (Twitter client) for #Android can optionally retweet using the new API. Settings>Use native ReTweet #
• Wish, processes can extend their hands to technology as far as technology extends its hands to them. #
• #Google's #Linux repositories http://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/ #
• While #Linux repository content http://tinyurl.com/28nq4b shows Picasa & #Google Desktop, it also has Chrome Browser (unstable) #
• RT @fossdotin: Online registration for FOSS.IN ends Monday night. Register now, or you pay flat 1000 INR http://foss.in/register #
• You are feeling rather upbeat today, but you still must be car… More for Leo http://twittascope.com/twittascope/?sign=5 #

Twitter Updates for 2009-07-07

• @deliriumlabs no installation error during the #Dropbox install on #Fedora 11. The error I get is explained here: http://tinyurl.com/nzbel7 in reply to deliriumlabs #
• #Qik http://qik.com/, a cool app, for live video streaming from phone, is now available for #Android, from the Android Market #
• RT @kbhargava: So the #India #Budget 2009 does not make it as a trending topic! While #HannahMontana does. #
• #Adobe #Air installation on #Fedora 11: This http://bit.ly/rGMx9 worked for me #
• @deliriumlabs yea have the bug-buddy installed Pls do keep sharing ideas as and when they occur. #Fedora 11 #Dropbox in reply to deliriumlabs #
• @deliriumlabs Installed Fedora 10 RPM of #Dropbox on #Fedora 11. Few guys at Dropbox forum claim it to be working. A few have error like min in reply to deliriumlabs #
• @deliriumlabs tried GTK_MODULES="". Same error "BadIDChoice" as I reported on the #Dropbox forum for #Fedora 11 http://tinyurl.com/nzbel7 in reply to deliriumlabs #
• @deliriumlabs ppl have reported #BadIDChoice error against #Firefox on #Linux distros. But I'm not facing this error only with #Dropbox in reply to deliriumlabs #
• @deliriumlabs hey I'm "shutdown -h now". That is, I'm going to sleep Pls do keep the ideas coming in, as and when. Thanks a ton in reply to deliriumlabs #
• #Transformers 2 at #PVR #Cinemas. So called a paid preview (?) http://twitpic.com/9j1bg #
• Break in on #CentOS #Linux website http://lwn.net/Articles/340130/ #
• @vinodunny ref. #CentOS break in, http://bit.ly/hudJP : I see notification, prevention and honesty. in reply to vinodunny #
• RT: @bineshkutty: How to analyze your mobile phone usage to save on bill amount http://bit.ly/Zf7gl in reply to bineshkutty #
• @vinodunny what are the diff. #tax heads? in reply to vinodunny #
• @vinodunny yes paid service #tax. Besides these are there more tax heads for us? in reply to vinodunny #
• @achitnis My Lord, have u ever lost (or admitted to lose) an argument ? in reply to achitnis #
• @vinodunny buddy, I found it for you, at risk of offending @achitnis. Atul is resistant to futile marketing. Try something else. good luck #
• 19 reasons why kids need parental control http://bit.ly/oyI6L #
• RT: @mvaze: @vinodunny @shekharg Arthakranti proposes exactly same – single taxation, but there is LOT more : http://tinyurl.com/dgvxv9 #
• @vinodunny rt who but u will want to change ur plan from freedom in reply to vinodunny #
• #Gmail etc. are no longer a #beta of any father – http://tinyurl.com/lmf4r8 Must read is the last para "Back to Beta" #
• #Microsoft #Win7 #Ultimate – seems to be not so ultimate http://bit.ly/Zcuwg #

Twitter Updates for 2009-04-11

• Back to using Twidroid stable on my #android phone. Twidroid beta was not showing replies consistently #
• @kbhargava also when I replied @sharat_j to check my twitter profile, instead, for my location when he smsed to ask where im in reply to kbhargava #
• @bineshkutty now I get it wmp=windows mobile phone. Also try tinytwitter recommended and used by ur friend @pankaj_shukla in reply to bineshkutty #

Was about to buy an Android

I was thrilled to spot the news about unlocked developer version of Google’s Android based phone.The news revealed a network unlocked phone called “Android Dev Phone 1″. So far, the only Android based phone which has been available is T-Mobile’s G1 – which is a network locked phone and will not work in India (where I live).

Photo of Android Dev Phone 1 from Android Market

Note that the Dev Phone is meant for developers which just means there will be no support by any company (which includes Google, T-Mobile or HTC). Still it costs as much as a consumer phone (as mentioned later). Read the rest of this entry »

Fedora X

How things change while on the move! I had been hitting the Fedora site constantly for the Fedora 10 download – last at around 20:30 hrs IST from a client’s office. While driving back, about 30 mins away from home, I checked the site on my Windows Mobile (ironic?) and I spotted “Fedora 10″ written all over the site. Rushed home at double speed.

Fired the torrent as well as direct download. The latter because, saw only one peer @ 98.7% download. Let’s see who, direct or the torrent download, wins the race on my 2 Mbps connection at home. The torrent download is not giving me more than 3KBps whereas the direct download is dicey and swinging – at times from about 260 KBps to 40 KBps

Once downloaded I have to start thinking about backing up my laptop running Fedora 9 and installing the 10. This may happen tonight, if sleep does not take over the X.

Will update this post as I sail to X from IX.

And now (Nov 27, 2008 @ 16:30 IST), my laptop runs Fedora 10 Continuing to write from Fedora 10, about it. Following is the first glimpse, with the noteworthy new wallpaper,  of Fedora 10′s desktop, after the installation:

Fedora 10 Desktop

Read the rest of this entry »

Mobile friendly Websites with Google

While browsing the Web on your mobile phone/PDA, you will come across many web sites which are not readable, do not fit in your mobile screen or are graphic intensive. Following is a quick and Google way to see a mobile optimized view of any Website:

Read the rest of this entry »

Simple script to alert about inaccessible servers

Following is a simple script, written in PHP, which will send an E-mail alert to you when one or more of your Web servers is inaccessible.

<?php
/* things to edit/change */

$fileToFetch = "isalive.txt";
$mailTo = "shekhar@it4enterprise.com";
$mailFrom  = "alert@it4enterprise.com";

$websites = array(
"Website 1" => "http://www.website1.com",
"Website 2" => "http://www.website2.com",
"Website 3" => "http://www.website3.com"
);

/* end of things to edit/change */

foreach($websites as $name=>$value)
  if(!($fp = @fopen($value."/".$fileToFetch,"r")))
    mail($mailTo,"WEBSITE DOWN: ".$name,"WEBSITE DOWN: ".$name,"From: ".$mailFrom);

?>

Read the rest of this entry »