BlogCamp Kerala: Face-to-Face meet of Passionate Bloggers is happening on 16th of this month in Kerala

An offline meet of around 120 bloggers, which is named BlogCamp Kerala, is happening on the 16th of this month at Alappuzha. The event, as they call, is an Unconference, which will be taking place in a Houseboat! And it will be the First Unconference to be held on a Houseboat.

BlogCamp will feature lots of hot discussions, mainly focused at SEO, Blogging Ideas, Campus Blogging and audio Blogging. Prominent Bloggers from Kerala will show up at this event, so this is a golden chance to meet local passionate bloggers. The event is sponsored by Kerala Tourism. 

Details of the event are available at their official portal. Visit the portal or dial, +91 9846831128 (Mr. Jacob) or +91 9846430463 (Mr. Subramanian) (Both numbers at Kerala) for more details and registration. SMS 'Go BCK' to 53636 for Mobile Updates.

Official Speak about BlogCamp…

BlogCamp Kerala is an event conceived by a group of volunteer bloggers who want to meet up and share ideas and have casual discussions about blogging, internet, technology and more.

The main essence of the Blog Camp Kerala is “Unconference”. Blogging for the most of us is a passion first and a profession next. We celebrate unconferences in its best, thanks to its power of active participation, and its wholesome fun.

I am looking forward for the event. Thanks to Mr. Subramanian and Mr. Jacob for the details. Just 11 days to go.

BlogCamp Kerala Official Portal | Read about BlogCamp Kerala on The Hindu Newspaper

China Removes Website Restrictions For Olympics

China recently removed some of the Website Blocking Restrictions, so that users from all around the world who come to China for the Olympic season can enjoy all their favorite websites. Major Video sharing and networking websites that were previously banned would be available now for the Olympic season. This relaxation is temporary and the original state would be restored shortly after the Olympics.

Though the blocking is lifted, content that was blocked earlier and those materials that matter the socio-economics of China will remain behind bars. Still this relaxation could mean a memory of the good old days for the Chinese in general and the newbie’s would get a chance to discover new sites. Happy Olympics!

Related:

Access Blocked Websites Using This Hack

The Story I wrote for The Dragon Giveaway at absolutevista.com

As you might have noticed in the list of participating websites for the HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook Giveaway (www.31daysofthedragon.com, see previous posts), the first participating website is www.absolutevista.com. Absolute Vista wanted its readers to write up a story which would tell the world how the desktop replacement system would change your life. Here is a copy of the mail that I sent to Absolute Vista that contains my story...

----- Start of Mail -----

I need to breathe…

When the deep shades of the street rickshaws no longer attracted me, I went to McNair uncle. I was 12 then. I went the diggy alley, to the house on the edge. The bell on the door was too high for any boy of my age to handle. I had my own ways of calling up uncle from his study. His room featured all the good things that he had collected in his lifetime. His immaculately polished walking stick always lay next to his door, ready for a stride at short notice. He asked me the question that stills rings my ears – 'What do you want to grow up to? '– I said, I want to be a race driver. He eyed me from the corner of his half moon spectacles. Was that more than He had expected? I don't know. We played till late and then he told me to come back on Saturday.

He usually does not say this, so I went there. I thought he wanted to show something. Instead he took me to Eugene, the geek of our city. Back then it was only he who had a personal computer. Uncle had arranged the evening for me. I was racing down the Nilgiris. I was on my Mclaren. From that day I had been racing. The screech of the tyres and the fuzz of the Nitros have always made me shirty. Shirty to win. Whether it be Rockstreet or the roads of the Monaco, the black-eyed Porsche or the yellow hazels of the Lamborghini, it had been always cash, Nox and fun. I could see that I have started growing out of the box. The day I got my license is the day I got my first speeding ticket. My family and my society have pushed me back to the box. It's suffocating. I need to race, race and race till I fall. Give me the dragon, I need to breathe…

I said I need to breathe…

This is a 20 year old computer adhering machine that can be found in Kerala, India. This machine grabs his bike to go to college to earn its B-tech degree and is named Arun Basil Lal. That's me man.

No attachments please…

----- End of Mail -----

I did not have enough luck to grab the Dragon. The winner at Absoulte Vista was Derek Hunter. Congratulations Derek.

Proceed to Absoulte Vista to read the winning story and the runner-up's.

Interested in Oracle ? Then Get a Free Subscription of The Oracle Magazine

Are a Oracle developer? Are you interested in using Oracle products or do wish to know the inside stories of Oracle? Then here is something for you. Oracle has got a bi-monthly magazine which is given to all those who are interested in Oracle and its produclts.
The Oracle magazine is mainly for the IT professionals which delivers Up-to-date information on Oracle Database and Oracle tools. It contains Technical articles on Orcale products and operating enviornments and gives you lots of tips and tricks, right from the Oracle users. Also brings winning customer stories and news every 2 months right to your door-step in a neat printed format.
So if you feel like you need a bit of technical reading, all about Oracle, follow this link : www.oracle.com/oraclemagazine

You have to fill up a questionnaire before you get the free subscription.

The May-June issue contains an Interview with Jeff Pollock, senior director of product management at Oracle in whcih he talks about the new Oracle Data Integration Suite.

Grab the Formula One Action with Inside Track and Free Stickers from Shell

The 2008 Formula One Season is on and Kimi Räikkönen is making a name for himself. The Turkish race is just over and the Monaco race is just at hand.
The official partner of Ferrari, Shell is giving out free Stickers of their drivers and their cars. Along with that comes a free email subscription of Inside Track which brings news and photos of each race right into your inbox.
The stickers will be mailed to your address free of charge along with a compliments card. Get your copy of stickers, follow this link : http://www.shell.com/home/ferrari-en/html/iwgen/motorsport/app_stickers.html

Ubuntu 8.04 is available for free download

Ubuntu, one of the most popular linux versions, just released its newest version named Hardy Heron 8.04. As always, Ubuntu is available for free download from http://www.ubuntu.com/
For those new to Ubuntu, Ubuntu is a linux based free Operating System developed by a community of programmers and developers. Ubuntu comes with a bundle of softwares that include office packages and productivity tools and some simple games. A new version of Ubuntu is available once in every six months. Ubuntu is named based on the year and month of its relase. i.e 8.04 means April 2008. Ubuntu has got separate versions for your 32-bit and 64-bit computers.
For those with a slow internet connection and has got the patience to wait for about 10 weeks can request a free Ubuntu CD. When the free CD Distribution initially started, Ubuntu encouraged users to request more and more CD's. But now their funds are drying up, so they will only accept request in small quantities unless you can convince the Ubuntu team.
Ubuntu CD includes both Installer CD and live CD packed in to one disc. You can boot from the CD and choose to see a demo of the OS. There you can try out all the applications that would be available once the OS is installed. Then you can choose to install the OS. Ubuntu CD also includes Windows versions of Open Office and interntet tools like the Mozilla Firefox.
To request or download Ubuntu 8.04 follow this link : http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntuJoin the Ubuntu community : http://www.ubuntu.com/community

Win one of the 31 HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook : Grab it now

Computer Giant HP in association with BuzzCorps (http://www.buzzcorps.com/) is offering its HDX Entertainment Notebook popularly known as Dragon. The notebook is offered through 31 websites participating in the giveaway. Each of these websites will be holding separate contests and the website owner is free to select the winner. The contest is from 02 may to 08th June which means the contest is already on!

The good part of the contest is that the Dragon Laptop is loaded so well with Software and entertainment. One more good thing is that it will be delivered to the winner without any participation from the winner. HP will pay off the shipping and all the taxes.

Here is the list of participating websites along with the dates in which the competition will be held on the specific website :

02 May - 09 May http://www.absolutevista.com/

03 May - 10 May http://www.arstechnica.com/

04 May - 11 May http://www.osnn.net/

05 May - 12 May http://www.jkontherun.com/

06 May - 13 May http://www.digitalmediaphile.wordpress.com

07 May - 14 May http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/ and http://www.techronical.com/

08 May - 15 May http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/

09 May - 16 May http://www.thedigitallifestyle.com/

10 May - 17 May http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/

11 May - 18 May http://www.windows-now.com/

12 May - 19 May http://www.windowsconnected.com/

13 May - 20 May http://www.geekstogo.com/

14 May - 21 May http://www.bink.nu/

15 May - 22 May http://www.mediablab.com/

16 May - 23 May http://www.last100.com/

17 May - 24 May http://www.labnol.org/

18 May - 25 May http://www.notebooks.com/

19 May - 26 May http://www.slashdotreview.com/

20 May - 27 May http://www.neowin.net/

21 May - 28 May http://www.geek.com/

22 May - 29 Mau http://www.lockergnome.com/

23 May - 30 May http://www.planetx64.com/

24 May - 31 May http://www.thegreenbutton.com/

25 May - 01 Jun http://www.istartedsomething.com/

26 May - 02 Jun http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/

27 May - 03 Jun http://www.hardwaregeeks.com/

28 May - 04 Jun http://www.geeknewscentral.com/

29 May - 05 Jun http://www.geekzone.co.nz/

30 May - 06 Jun http://www.thetabletpc.net/

31 May - 07 Jun http://www.gearlive.com/

01 Jun - 08 Jun http://www.gottabemobile.com/

The Dragon laptop is not something for the common folk. With Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor (X9000, 2.80GHz, 6 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz FSB), 20.1" Widescreen, 4 GB RAM, 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS Graphics, 500 GB SATA Dual Hard Drive, Blu-Ray ROM Combo Drive, the Dragon is for those who like to make a name of their own. Along with this comes webcam, fingerprint reader, TV Tuner and 4 Altec Lansing Speaker. The 9 Cell Lithium Battery that comes along provides amble backup for non-stop perfomance.

In the soft part, Dragon has got Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit) and includes Microsoft Office, Corel PaintShop Pro X2, Corel Painter Essentials, Corel Ulead Video Studio Plus 11.5, Symantec Norton Internet Security. More than these the Dragon is loaded with entertainment and gaming options like The pirates of the Caribbean series and games like Viva Piñata,Microsoft Flight Sim, Microsoft Flight Sim Expansion Pack and Gears of War.The total worth of the Notebook is over $5100.
The Dragon Notebook is a desktop replacement system. Unlike the usual notebooks that have a cramped keyboard, the Dragon has got space for a separate keypad and remote control, thanks to the size of its screen. (see pic).

For more details log on to http://www.31daysofthedragon.com/
With a price tag of $5100 Dragon is not something to be missed. Check out the list and get ready to replace your desktop!

Deliver Instant Group SMS Free using GupShup

GupShup is a free group sms solution available at www.smsgupshup.com, brought to you by Webaroo. Many solutions exists there online that can send sms to mobile subscribers but GupShup is different. You create a group, add your friends and then can start sending sms to the group with a single click. This one click sending is not available with many services.

Here is the deal. Go to www.smsgupshup.com, create a new account with a username and password, name your group and you are done. Add members to your group and start sending sms. The recepient is subscribed by default means there needs not be any confirmation from the receiver. GupShup gives an option for the subscriber to stop receiving sms. The receiver has to send an sms to the number that GupShup provides, details are send to all subscribers along with the first sms.

To create a group from mobile send 'CREATE' followed by the groupname to 567673434. Help comes to you when you send HELP to 567673434. You can post messages to this number from your mobile and GupShup delivers them to your subscribers instantly.

One good thing about GupShup is that you can specify whether your group is private or public. Public groups are open to all, i.e anyone can join. At GupShup you can join others public group. Groups are organised as per category and finding your favorite group is not a problem.

GupShup is a handy service for college gangs and friends groups. Put it into good use.

Related:

• Send Free SMS via 160by2
• Get Free SMS Updates from MyToday
  

Send Free SMS To Any Mobile In India Using GPRS

Do you have a Mobile phone with a GPRS connection.. ? Then this is for you. A website named www.160by2.com is offering a service whcih allows users to send sms to any mobile number in India for free. Your message can be 80 characters long. The remaining 80 characters is filled up by advertisments chosen by 160by2. So basically its a new kind of advertising program. And now you know why it is named 160/2. 80 for the user and 80 for the advertiser

Here is the procedure :

• Visit 160by2.com from your desktop, and sign up giving your personal details and mobile no.
• You will recieve a password as sms on that mobile number and will be asked to change the password
• Go to 160by2.com from your web browser on the mobile and sign in with the username and password.
• Type in the recepient's mobile no. and the message and click on send.
• You are done !

Some Good things about 160by2 :

• The service is free.
• Messages are delivered really fast.
• We can make a contact list online, so its easy to add recepients.
• And 80 characters is a decent length.
• The mobile version of 160by2 uses very less bandwidth ( about 4 kb ). So those who are charged per kb of data transfer wont be charged.

Some not things about 160by2 :

• There is no option to count the no. of characters. So you do not know whether you reached 80 or not. And even if we exceed 80 characters the message is sent with the first 80 charchaters. One way to get rid of this problem is to type the message in the phone's ' Write Message ' area ( The place where we write the normal sms's, there we have a character counter ) and copy the text to 160by2.
• This is available in India only. No International SMS is possible.

Related:

• Send Free Group SMS using GupShup
• Get Free SMS Updates from MyToday
  

Get Free SMS From MyToday.com : Service Available For Indians Only

MyToday.com Offers a variety of Free SMS Services to its subscribers. It can send you Jokes, Updated News, Bollywood news, Tips and much more.  See the list of SMS Services and KeyWords.

The best thing about MyToday is that it is free. You have to send a request SMS first. ( Your Subscriber will charge you a STD SMS for this )

Here is the way to request.

• To subscribe for Jokes Send "START JOKES" without quotes to 9845398453. Replace JOKES with the keyword of your choice. List of Keywords is available here.

• There is a much better way to save on the SMS charges that your subscriber will charge you for the request SMS. You can do this by registering your mobile with MyToday.com. SMS REG to 9845398453. Your will recieve your password as reply.
  Then you can login with your mobile no. and password at MyToday.com and Subscribe for those services for that you need online without sending separate SMS requests.

Service is presently available in India Only.

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• Send Free SMS via 160by2.com 
• Turn Your Mobile Into A Spy Phone 
• Get Mobile Software From GetJar.com 
• New N78, A Negative Review 
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Cast Your Vote For the New Seven World Wonders... Each Vote Counts

As you might already know, the elections for the New Seven Wonders is on... The new Wonders will be selected based on the votes form the people of the world.
Votes are recieved through SMS and direct site registration at www.new7wonders.com. You need an email-id to cast your vote.
If you wish to vote through SMS contact your mobile service provider to get the details. Most of the service providers are offering this voting service.

Each vote counts.. so do not forget to mark your presence. I request all the Indians to vote for Taj Mahal.
The results will be published on 7th July this year.. i.e. 07-07-07

Visit www.new7wonders.com now and vote!

b.