Showing posts with label Featured Articles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Featured Articles. Show all posts

Some Things In Life Never Change: Here are few such things

Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 by Arun Basil Lal

Things In Life That Never ChangeSomebody rightly said that 'Some Things in Life Never Change'. Science and Technology have changed our ways and walks of life. Changes can be felt every single day. Newer and better gadgets show up at the stores every week. But still there are some things that never fall out of our life. No matter how far Technology has come, these things have stayed more or less the same over these years.


Watches : We are speaking of Analog Watches. Digital Watches are available with accuracy of upto one second in one million years (i.e one second variation from the real time over one million years). Many digital watches can show temperature and altitute and can even check your emails. But still the glory and style of the traditional analog watches is different. People prefer to see the mechanical movement of the dials more than the style of the silicon controlled displays.

Pencils : We live in a world which has got everything from ball-point pens to laser markers. But pencils still have a very special place in our lives. Technology has not really affected the use and production of pencils. Pencils are used even by space travellers so that they can write in conditions where there is no atmospheric pressure to push the ink out of the ball-point pens!

Calculators : Calculators first came to our lives first in the form of abacus. Abacus is still used in many parts of the world. The electronic calculators as we see today came back in the 1930's. After that many devices including the computer came in front of us. But still we use these electronic calculators for daily mathematical works owing to their low cost and simplicity of use.

Floppies : There was a time when you had to install windows using a bunch of floppies. But memmory have become so cheap that now you can store all the books in the oxford library in a thumb drive. But floppies are not out of the show. The newer laptops do not have floppy drives.. ok. But geeks still use the floppies to recover a system once it does not boot. The windows recovery comes very handy in a floppy.

Dot-Matrix Printer : With the advent of ink-jet and laset-jet printers, dot-matrix printers said good bye to house hold. But that did not mean that it was going to die. Dot-Matrix printers find application in shops and stores where cheap printing is required. The cost of printing using a Dot-Matrix printer is not even one-tenth that using a laser printer. May companies still have a range of Dot-Matrix printers.

Radio : When JL Bird invented Television, someone said that the era of listening is over and now its the time to see. Initially people found T.V very attractive. But we still have Radio transistors in every nook and corner. Even most modern mobile phones have FM Recieving. Many new Broadcasting Centers are coming up these days. Radio transmission now even uses satellites. Maybe its the busy life that still keeps Radio as a part of our day.

Incandescent Lamps : These are not energy-efficient, these are short-lived but these are cheap. Technological advances could invent energy efficient CFL Lamps and LED Lamps. But they all failed in the competition with the Edison Lamps. When you get a CFL for 100 Rs or a LED Lamp for 250 RS you can get a Incandescent Lamp for Rs 10. Today 1$=42Rs.

Printed Books : As we have seen, you can store whole of the Oxford Library in a thumb drive, but that does not stop the publishing industry to stop printing. Printed books still have roles to play in our lifes like it had to play when printing initially started. Maybe its the ease to read something printed that keeps it going.

Fax Machines : We live in an age of SMS and e-mails. But when things get official, we still use fax machines. Because fax is fast and simple.

Post : If emails are soft, post is hard. Personal communication using written mails have decreased. True. But still officail communication is through the normal post.

Ink Pens : Ink-pens may leak, they might not write at times. But its always a pleasure to write with an ink pen. This pleasure have kept the ink pens alive all thorughout the years. We have all the leading manufacturers of pens showcasing a range of ink pens.

Bicycles : You have cars, you have motor bikes. But that does not stop the production fo bicycles. Being a source of health and pleasure, bicycles still stay as a part of our life.

Match Boxes : Lighters can look elegant. But they cannot replace the Match Boxes from our house hold.

Candles : Advent of Electricity reduced the prodcution of candles. That is true. But the soothing effect of a candle is much different from the cold light of a electric lamp. Candles serve as light reserve durig camping and parties. Dating cannot happen without a candle-lit dinner. lol

Life is like that... Some things in life never change!

Guidelines For the Safe Use of Mobile Phones

Posted on Monday, December 25, 2006 by Arun Basil Lal

It is said that the extensive use of mobile phones can cause health realted problems. Even if it has no experimental proof or evidence, its always safe to prevent than to cure. Studies have shown negative effects on rats but it will take time to know what will be the effect on human beings. This is because it takes atleast 10 years to show some effect. Mobile phones have become so popular only in the recent days and only a few people have been using it over 5 years.

Here are some tips which when followed keeps all the negative effects to the minimum ( if it has any !)

  1. Use Headsets like bluetooth headsets or handsfree headsets. Bluetooth headsets are expensive but handsfree is cheap. If you have one you can keep your mobile phone away from your body and stay protected.
  2. Do not speak continuously for more than a hour even while you use headset. While you are speaking over the phone the voice is heard directly to the ears. This is not good for the ears. Take breaks between conversations. You can use the loudspeaker for long talks.
  3. Its assumed that the readiation depends on the mobile phone you are using. If your phone is creating a burning sensation on your ears, try using a different mobile.
  4. People with pacemakers are strictly adviced to stay away from mobile phones. Life is much important than a mobile. You can always find a landline wherever you go. If you have one do not place it in near your heart.
  5. Kids Below 5 years of age must not be allowed to use mobile phones. Its believed that the readiation from mobile phones destroy the cells of the brain. For kids those cells are in the undeveloped state. So the effect will be more for kids than a grown up.
  6. Do not talk with the phone when the phone is plugged in for a recharge.
  7. Do not press the phone closely to your ears.
  8. Do not use your mobile phone if the network coverage is too low. When the network coverage is low the phone maintains the connection by increasing the frequency of the waves.
  9. Do not place the mobile phone close to your head while you sleep. Keep it at a safe distance ( in case you have an alarm ) or at a distance.
  10. If you feel irritated or feel like vomitting out of use of mobile phones, seek medical advice.
  11. Experts advice to use your left ear while using a mobile phone. Its said that the cells in the right part of the brain are more prone to damage than those on the left part.

If you use your mobile for less than 2 hours a day and do not carry it in your pockets or close to your body for too long, you are believed to be in the safe-zone.

Sending an Executable File in Gmail

Posted on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 by Arun Basil Lal

As a matter of security from malicious code or so, G-mail beta does not allow users to send Executable files in Gmail. This helps to keep Gmail virus free. But this can be irritating at-times, like when you are trying to send something which is definitely virus free. Like if you did like to send a program that you made for evaluation to your friend or so. Here are 2 ways to send such files. Thanks to my friend Sam.

Method 1 :
Add the executable file to a zip archive. Its not over yet. Add this zip archive to another zip archive. So that your executable file will be inside two zip archives simultaneously. Then attach it and then you can send it comfortably.
eg:. If your file name is asd.exe , first add it to a zip archive named abc.zip or so. Then add this abc.zip to another zip named xyz.zip or so. Then attach it.

Method 2 :
Rename your executable file to something which is not an executable. That is change the extension .exe to somthing like .jkl or so. then attach it and inform the reciver at the other end to rename it to .exe before he can use it. That's it.
You can rename the file using command prompt.
For eg: if you wish to rename asd.exe to asd.jkl take command prompt and then go to the directory where your file is. then type ' rename asd.exe asd.jkl' without the quotes.

Good Luck!