Hacking the A570

My good old friend Mirang owns a Canon A570.
A570+CHDK=Lots of Fun on an idle Saturday afternoon.
The term CHDK stands for the Canon Hack Development Kit....
I then asked one question-Why in the world does one buy a digital SLR?And then I realised that not everyone is born a techie.
If you own a Canon point and shoot and looking for the fun of a digital SLR(Mind it it gives you the ability to open and close the camera shutter for (1/100k) second.Now thats way cool)..Then the CHDK is a way to go....

I am completely in love with all the people who really are doing things that defy the rules of normal gadget usage.They have a different perspective on gadgets,and are looking for the next free hour to try something new.The world calls them "hackers".They mean something else to me...Something way more respectable....

I really did not want to write another post teaching how to boot the camera from the CHDK scripts..there are lots of posts and information out to search and easily accessible.
Go ahead..give your Canon camera some steroids!

Updates Since my Last Blog Post

Woah..That was a long time ago..I guess...
I have been places..Visited a Marriage in Mahuva,Ahmedabad last week,and then had been to Panchgani,Maharastra this weekend.Check my album here.

I had ordered a Lappy ,the DV6929 from HP.This serves as at replacement to my old machine which has served me since the last 6 odd years.
The lappy looks great,and I seriously hate Vista,which has come preloaded.I will transfer all the files and folders from the old machine to a portable drive, and then format both the machine.The older one would be handed over to my neice,and the lappy would have XP and Linux installed...Lets see if all goes well :).Need to also set up a wifi environ at my house, and setting up a new corner in my house where I can happily sit and enjoy chatting online with friends with my cup of coffee.
And yeah,I need to get an old lappy working to set as a Linux Server in some corner of my house...

I have had a stack of around 300 Gb of movies,which I am planning to watch one every night.

Work at office and home has taken a real slowdown now,and I am most of the time surfing new things at delicious or digg...

Heart Transplant

I am scheduled for a heart transplant next year...I was planning it since the end of my college,and finally I found a donor this March...the preprations for the same have being going since then itself..the final step would be most probably taken end of next year....I am advised to get in shape before the event...I am hoping this will go well...

Back to college

I had been to my engineering college today..casually..for some work also..
Well it has changed a lot..and a lot is an understatement..the infrastcuture has changed a lot..there has been a new MMS wing that has come up and functional

The work that I was supposed to finish,was wrapped up in a sometime,and Since it was a thursday,I got the eat the delicious Pav Bhaji at the college canteen.
I still remember that like a kid I used to run on thursdays to savour the treat..
The taste still hasnt changed a tad bit..
I also was a lot more hungry,so I also had a plate of Misal Pav, and just returned back to the good old days..Genuinely..I actually went back in time where I and my pals used to eat in the same cafeteria..

I had a lot of time at hand,and was sitting at the college ground floor,where we used to spend time together on the chairs kept there..
I saw people in a frenzy to complete their journals,and people just chilling out..
every scene and every moment that I had spent in those wonderful four years,I literally could live that..
It was an awesome experience...I throughly enjoyed it..

I really attribute all the fun to the food that I had there..

Missing my pal Viral Gala..We both used to share the lunch table in college..

Finally got it...Hurray!!!!

Well its the IPOD Touch..
Some time ago..January to be precise,my project manager declared a contest...The person who solves the most bugs as well as logs the most will be awarded a 16GB Ipod touch...
The contest was supposed to be closed on the 20th of February,but hey..this is project management one on one..
I did win it,with a whopping 36 bugs solved in 30 days,and this together with delivery schedules and project assignments on my head.
This was also the time when I had clocked two 80 hour weeks one after the other,and genuinely,I was motivated to an extent that I was never ever in my life.
Well yes,they did not give me my due on time,time when I most wanted it,to gift it to someone special(Yes,you are correct!!!).
It was a long chain of flame mails to my manager,and a complete "disobedience" movement of not to solve any bugs further.

And it did turn up to be fruitful,I finally have it..

I already was gifted an 8 GB one by April from the same "someone special".

Its kinda funny how silly the device is..
A 16 GB memory can store upto may be 30 hours of movie,and If you sit to see a movie on the Touch,with a full charge,it discharges at around 3 hours.

I find it rather silly,and yes the same applies to music too..
But hey..The interface rocks!!!Totally...
I already have hacked it,and playing around my gift so that I can put a GSM modem around it,so I also can talk with it..
More in latter posts!!

Learning Adobe Flex 3

I attended a 2 day hands-on training on Adobe flex by Harish .
The training was so much fun to attend,and also the entire Flex thing is so much more advanced and above the typical HTML/Javascript that I handle at work..
It seamlessly integrates with XML based systems,and is a complete visual treat to work with.
Athough the licenses are a little on the higher side(~$700),so for the time being for my own aquaintance,I am working with OpenLaszlo.
It seems that the latter is somewhat a little less mature than the former,but since it is fed by the Open Source community,there would definitely be a lot of adding to it..

I have move to a more fun and happier life since my last post..more about the events in future posts!

Some thoughts on Coins!

Seriously, life has become a tad bit complicated...
There have been issuance of newly minted coins on Re.1 and Re.2 in the Indian Market.
Trouble is they look the same.They are round with minimal physical features that can distinguish the coins by touch,and to add to the confusion,they also almost look the same.

The only way to distinguish is to actually look at the denomination.

It was a little while ago that the Re.1 was circular and the Re.2 was in shape of an octagon.


Its OK for me,I have good sight.What about the blind beggar?
You must be kidding to design such coins...I am not sure what went behind the design of those coins,but they are an absolute nuisance..

My argument points to the fact that people with some kind of disability have to taken into consideration when a particular design is expected to touch their life.If its is money,you cannot expect to single out a particular group of people that will not come in direct contact with it.

The icing on the cake is:
The 50 paise coins and the 5 Rupee Coins are also same in size shape and almost same in weight.
It is a terrible fact that the difference of denomination is so huge,and yet the two are almost the same.

May be now I have to really play with coins to have a feel of them,or always be cautious!