I’m Jacob Thomas

Believe it or not ..I got a TV that is 1 year younger than me.The company is called Dyanora.(The model number just faded away.)It has never gone for a visit to any service station in all these years.Be it Plasma,LCD or any any other CRT TV,I still like watching my Dyanora.
Design?..Hehe nothing much than a black box with two holes in the sides(supposedly the speakers.)
Channels?.Woah!,A whopping 30.(Ah! the sweet smell of irony..)
It has no seperate video,audio inputs,but ya .one RF port.
I sure like to congratulate the company for their support and services all these years.2 years ago,they closed down the official service center.(Actually they merged with Thompson).Apart from a few snags in its path he has worked fine.
Now i have fitted in a Philips Chassis.(R::The old remote just refuses to work and my cable connection has some 112 channels.)

RMVB is one container format you never want to show your back.Infact if you do that you will be missing a lot of good things.Come on…I am not kidding.Well..I do not blame you guys for i too hated files with an .rm extension.But recently RealMedia has developed a spectacular format for variable bitrate streams..’Real Media Variable Bitrate’ or simply rmvb.Files in AVI format,(especially the ones encoded with DivX or XVid) were widely popular in 2001(still pretty famous..).I came across these RealMedia formats due to anime download sites.Actually it was Inuyasha(Ep. 11) that i downloaded first.The size of an 27 minute episode was 33 MB and the quality was decent.Back then there were times when i even felt that i was the only one using .rm files

Well what is really the fuss about rmvb format?.Nothing much..It is smaller in size compared to .mpg and .avi and can be used for storing media files.RMVB is a contrary to other formats(even .rm) because of its Bitrate settings.Variable bitrate varies output data per time segment.Unlike CBR(Constant Bitrate),VBR gives higher bitrate for complex sections in a media file and segments of less complex nature are given reduced bitrate.So the net result being,the file’s size reduced dramatically.

Size?..A 24 min ‘LOST’ episode in rmvb can have a size of 85 MB whereas an AVI version can have anything from 125-200 MB.(Above that it must have an uncompressed avi..you are nuts!)That’s definitely an advantage with rmvb right?.

The next Factor,

Quality..hmm..I have eyes and they tell me the quality is almost same to an .avi equivalent.Don’t believe me?.Screenshots please!!.Hey Mr.Forse has some for us.

Support for advanced content, such as chapters, subtitles, meta-tags, user-data,streaming media?.

A plain but sure yes.

Moving on..

Portability.Uh Oh..It seems like we have reached problems at last.If you have a computer system and a real player..Fine!.I once said about ‘rmvb’ to a friend.After a strong debate, he remarked.

But i am sure that my DVD player supports only DivX and not RealMedia..

True,RealMedia is not supported by players available now but this may soon be done.(I hope so.)Mp3 files too have such a problem.Some such files are now being encoded using VBR and these files are not found to compatible with other players.So listening to your car stereo,remember..it is ‘CBR encoded mp3′ (or even Average Bitrate).The encoders and the decoders have to be a little more complex if we have to hear VBR files.But sure technology is changing.We can emphatically hope for more advanced gadgets.

Now that i have blogged a lot i feel like downloading a movie.Let me search..hmm..Pirates of carribean:Dead Man’s Chest.Got it! 635 MB(DVD Rip.DivX).Woah!!That’s simpy too much…I got to add a nice extension to my search..hmm..Voila.374 MB!.Ya Guys it is none other that ‘.rmvb’

Now that the internet is on a turbulent ramification in all directions,many old concepts are being reiterated on the basis of developing technology.One such concept is Desktop.Yes desktop..the place where you have your ‘My computer’,'Recycle Bin’ and many more of your tools you need to survive in this advanced period of time.What about this desktop?You may ask..Nothing has really happened to it nor am i going to critique some new widgets or applications.The concept of desktop has been refurnished to an online adaptation.Online Desktops..Webtops.David Bouley explains it well in the home page of EyeOS.

Imagine being able to sit down at any ordinary computer in an Internet cafe or public library, start up the resident web browser and access your personal desktop - along with your applications, messages, and information - with a click of your mouse button. Then, when you’re done, you simply close the web browser to have all of the documents you’ve just worked on safely stored on your remote server, leaving nothing on the computer you’ve just been working on. This is the goal of the mobile desktop and operating system called eyeOS.

EyeOS is one such website described as “the Open Source Web Operating System.”..Open source hmm..Absolutely a FREE zone,Guys!!.You can check its live demo here .

The term ‘webtop’ is said to be coined in 1996 and is also known as ‘network oriented desktop’.The topic being new to me lead me to an unexpected array of vast web based applications.To name a random one.Writely,The Web Word Processor,which though is related only to documents is impressive.What sucked me into this was when a friend suggested to me about ‘Desktop two‘.A site which offers the users the look and feel of a desktop.So does eyeOS post an impressive version of a webtop tagged under freeware.Desktop two offers upto 1GB in the free account.

The features include

• Address Book
• Blog
• E-Mail
• Global Settings
• Hard Drive
• IM
• Programs
• Mp3 player
• Office suite

That’s a lot right.Wait till you hear the rest.The latest entity in web development,Ajax,creates a new class of such webtops know as online Ajax desktops.You should have come across small sites that allow you to tag,bookmark and arrange your contacts,favourites etc right?.But you always found it to be hard organising all these information.That’s when such webtops come in handy.
Dion Hinchcliffe classifies the features of Ajax Desktops as

1. One Stop - Centralized online consumption of content and services
2. Accessible Anywhere - Roaming accessibility from anywhere with Web connectivity
3. All Your Data - Easy integration of most existing information sources including e-mail, calendars, bookmarks, news, blogs,pictures, etc.
4. Engaging, Fun, Fast - Rich, interactive experiences that match native software
5. A Platform that Grows And Evolves - Open platform for in-browser third-party software add-ons (Live.com’s Gadgets and Pageflakes’ Community Flakes)
6. Real Software Not Just Data - Increasing integration with Web 2.0 software applications like word processors, messaging, and wikis, plus rich Javascript widgets
7. Intelligent Consumption - Ad-hoc, decentralized, user guided content filtering and mashup creation.

Protopage,PageFlakes,Netvibes,Live are some of the more popular webtops available.Cosmopod,Goowy are also variations that are worth checking.

Java Comes up with a site called java desktop community to promote its GUI support.Sun Microsystems introduced the Java Web Start framework e in 2001. It provides the most essential feature for a Webtop.JNLP is the protocol Web Start uses for this purpose.Anyway,The concept of desktops has definitely evolved.Whether my computer will be running on a pure web based operating

system ..hmm..A probable development in the coming years.Maybe..As all speculations regarding the future ends,I too rely on Mr Time to tell me the future.I leave with some screenshots from desktoptwo.com

Foxit Reader is a free reader for PDF (Portable Document Format) documents. You can view and print PDF documents with it.

Well Adobe reader was my long time tool for viewing .pdf files(What!!is there a problem?).

Features:Definitely,I could view the files.

The problem was that it used a lot of space and took a hell lot of time to load.Recently i came across this Foxit reader.I downloded the setup in 1 min(1.5 MB only) and then uninstalled Adobe suite.Installing Foxit was really a boon..I mean it was fast,simple and had all the neccessary functions…and all it took was a 2 MB of space.

License Type :Freeware

Download it from here

A science fiction suspense anime TV series created by Geneon Entertainment and Manglobe that began broadcasting in Japan on 25.February 2006 Saturday 7:00pm on the WOWOW satellite channel. It is directed by Shukou Murase, with screenplay by Dai Sato et al.. Ergo Proxy features a fusion of 2D digital cell animation, 3D computer modeling, and special digital effects.

Well thats what wikipedia has to say about Ergo Proxy.I saw a few episodes of this series(about 23 episodes are there.).To begin with,this series has one of most amazing animation details in recent times.Right from the start we get sweet old reminiscences of the Ghost in the Shell series.Both of these series fall into the same genre,cyberpunk.Artificial Intelligence,technically elevated robots and sophisticated computer networks are the basic fortification of these two anime series.The creators have tried to make Ergo Proxy as a carefully contrived,upscale alternative of Ghost in the Shell.Ergo Proxy was premiered in HDTV with 5.1 Digital sound.This series was one of the most anticipated series of 2006.

But the biggest challenge is how the writer has created a investigation procedure in a very believable fashion.I mean.. he is dealing with the future and that can be gestated only through imagination.The way he has sets the stage and the environment definitely
gets you a feeling that we are looking out to the future.The instruments,imperial computer networks with dazzling visual display technology has become a primary ingredient in a cyberpunk series.(Thanks to all those movies tagged under sci-fi).So does Ergo Proxy come out with its own version of such entities.

The characterization is also done with special emphasis on the story.The series revolves around Ril Mayer who is investigating about a virus called Cogito which affects a class of robots called Autoreivs.The robots have been conceived by the creators in a weird fashion quite contrary to the normal looks.But the uniqueness in design easily surpasses this minor glitch.The other but most important character,Proxy has a fantastical and monstrous built.

The theme or the story line is deep,dark and needs a instant,superfluous attention to the smallest of details.I am not sure whether this was done on purpose to make this series under the genre of the fast-paced science fiction with a vehemence on the story line.Although for a while you find it difficult to understand what it is really about,the story unfolds clearly in the later episodes.

Oh wait i have only seen 4 episodes..

If you use google more than you use your bathroom and you are fed up of its monotonous home page,Go try this.. The grease monkey is mucking around with a Google Dark Theme.

.

It is worth a try. Install

I wrote this song during my last days at Loyola.What it is about?Boohoo!!I miss school..

It’s all over now
Reasons are all gone
Silence crept in,Rythm faded away
Clapping of hands came to a still
Heart of the young men were swelling with grief

Why ,Why did the light succumb to darkness
Silence just prevailed over the tempo
Tunes so soothing turned to neverending din
Dry leaves were falling down from the maple trees(Its all..)

We are bidding goodbye..to a wonderful world
And i saw the sparkle in the eyes of the world
Why ,Why did the music stop then
When the tap of the music faded into silence(Its all..)

Dry leaves were falling faster
Sweet memories ,we had in the past
were now wept down to shiny drops
Time was in its slowest role (Its all..)

Different roads we have to tread
I’m No more brave to look back once
Years’ together with all the fun
i’m saying goodbye to a world so dear
(Its all..)

This is a small but useful code to get the user’s login name from the system.Whenever we make windows apps.It is always not good in addressing the user as guest,user etc.Try..for example this code and address them by the name of what they have logged on.
‘…………Declarations…………………………………………………..

Private Declare Function GetUserName Lib “Advapi32″ Alias “GetUserNameA” (ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize As Long) As Long

‘…………Function…………………………………………………..

Public Function GetLoginName() As Boolean
Dim s_LoginName as string
s_LoginName = String(20, Chr(0))
GetLoginName = GetUserName(s_LoginName, 20)
End Function

Hope this code will be of great use.

I am making it as simple as ever..
Wanted developers,Beta testers and designers.

It is about a  project called XT-OOP-CD.Please contact me

NEU PLUS Thikset is all set to be released as a beta edition.

Thikset is a CD indexer that allows you to create virtual drives of your entire CD collection.What more..?You can create,search,bookmark,send your CD collections.

Some features include>>

• Well you may ask Why ,what’s the use..?With the content and data transferred to a person ever increasing,people tend to backup their data into CD’s or even DVD’s(Bluray??..It has to wait..).So what we are going to do..If someone asks you to get him a file named ‘cheatbook2004.txt’.Well it is a small file which may run into justs KBs.Finding it in your 500 CDs can take a lot of work..So there goes.If you have Thikset in your system tray…CLICK IT..SEARCH for ‘cheatbook2004.txt’ and voila..You found your CD..
• Encryption:Standard encryption of the database files ensure that all your CD collection data is secure and protected.
• BackUP/Restore:What database software is complete without a backup/restore function?.The best thing is.. indexing 500 CD’s can create a backup file of just 1.44 MB.(Heard about such figures..?).Yes,it can be stored in good old floppies.
• Favorites,Bookmarks:Just like you bookmark or add a webpage to the favorite websites,Thikset allows you to do the same with your favorite files or folder..Ain’t that cool.
• Send to a Friend:If you want to share what you have with your friends..all you got to do is press a button called ’share’.It will prompt you for the recipient’s email address…and in no time will he recieve your entire file list..This feature is not necessary..Some may question us ..To those comments we remark…Imagine a situation where one of your friends want a set of .mp3s.He can search for it in the friend’s circle tab.This allows him to know who has which all files.Well.Well..What did you say?You have files of a sensitive nature…hmm..No worries because Thikset has a unique file settings option.This allows you to make sure you don’t add such files into the share bucket..

So if you are interested please comment to this post or simply mail me and let me know.We will deploy a beta edition for you..Absolutely FREE!!!