Saw this in TheServerside.Net, quite a funny task from the Editor. 

As per the news, Microsoft is letting Windows Vista Beta 1 tomorrow and official Beta 1 release is on August 3^rd. So, im not going to sleep tommorrow night. Im serious buddy, if it come late then, i will take off  sure...  Hope for the best......

I feel like converting all my old blogs in MySql to XML, so that I can postback it here... I have to start the work atleast tomorrow. Have to update this site, and others as well. Election is going to come in 10 months or less!!!  ArasiyalTalk.com, an otiose undertaking. Have to do something... Have to go to Office...  Niche work for a Vagabond!!!!

After a month Google released Google Earth, Microsoft (MSN) released its own version, MSN Virtual Earth as like it said two months back. The main difference between the two is : Google Earth is a (windows application)client application sits in your computer & access the Google's Site for the image & data, whereas this MSN Google Earth is a web based application. Secondly only basic services are offered for free by Google, here it supports many features which comes in the Google's Paid service.

Coming to MSN Earth, it has the same feature like Google, but the Map is somewhat blured/ not clear. I hope they are their way to new stuffs. But this 2-D map is very good to locate a place. when you goto VirtualEath site, its first shows USA's map, then just by double clicking or even by scrolling the mouse you can zoom in :)

I tried searching CITIBANK, NY and it opened a drop down list, with the address of all the  Citibank(branches) in NY.

I searched my company Saksoft Inc's  address and it showed the place

There is a option of finiding our current location via Wi-Fi  or thru GEO-IP. I tried with GEO-IP,  as expected it showed Chennai

If you have Wi-Fi access, then you can locate yourself in the map   A small activeX control has to be downloaded for that...

Options like Scratch Pad, PermaLink, email the location, and even you can Blog it(only for MSN bloggers).

"Six software professionals under the age of 33 have died and 2 top Executives from renowned software companies have become paralysed because of stress-related heart ailments in the last six months in Chennai, says a study by Mitran Foundation, a Bangalore-based voluntary association of practising doctors"     -  Thanks Karan.

As a IT Pros we must not only deliver projects in time, but also do other important things in time( having Food & Sleep). 75% of us are not doing this, and im also one the worst possbile person in the list. Just two months back i have changed :now a days i goto bed @  1am & will be out by 6-7am. Previously I used to go to bed by 3 or 4am and wake up at 9-9:30am, and will rush to office,which i was doing for years, thank God, I have changed that.  And when it comes to food, I don't take BFs.. straight to Brunch/ Lunch, if I take something at 11am (brunch) then Lunch will be given off, and i will have something at 5/6 pm then no dinner in that case. Then in nights i used eat all these Junks. Hopefully im in the phase of changing this too..... Hope I will change soon....

The first said statement can happen to anyone, we must think about our family..... so its self pity on us. 
We must always remember 2 things : 

• Health is Wealth
• Prevention is better than Cure

"In a world of more to do, more to discover the desire is clarity", says Microsoft Windows Vista.

The official name for Microsoft Windows Codenamed Longhorn will be Microsoft Windows Vista. Like Windows XP, Microsoft plans to puch Windows Vista by enforcing it with a new type of clear/claritative displays. That clearness seen in XP will be more in Vista. Its feature include better search(not using this Indexing), parental controls, home networking & easy to use external connectivity, etc.,

The official release was told in 2004 once, and got delayed many times. Now they are planning to set out Beta 1 this August 3^rd. And  the full release will be in 2006 second quarter it seems. Many expected features like WinFS are not implemented, may be they are for the next release,  Windows 2010 ????!!!!!

Im waiting for August 3^rd, 

I like the sentence, "Kissing a smoker is like licking an ash tray".  Actually this sentence is from a book called  Is Kissing a Girl Who Smokes Like Licking an Ashtray? by Randy Powell (1992, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, New York, 199 pages, FIC POW), and later the sentence became very famous.

Suddenly when you think of the sentence "Kissing a smoker is like licking an ash tray", you will feel like laughing. Well, like statutory warning in cigar boxes, we can say this as a friendly warning.

Update :  I was previewing this blog, and I laughed by reading the sentence. And my Project Manager, who sit besides, asked  me for what I laughed ??.... Well he is a smoker, I can't just say this to him now, since some more people are there. Im just waiting for them to move. ;)

Generally I used to get more than 100 forwarded mails a week, very few will be informative & interesting. Today I got
some things which shows our Galaxy(Milky Way), and zooms in towards - like it comes to Solar system, Earth,
and later it showed Florida(USA), then a large oak tree, then its leaf, magnified leaf, then its cell and it goes......

Thanks Uma for forwarding it :)

Three weeks after the indian IT giant, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., (TCS) announced its plan to recruit 13,500 people, today as per its schedule, they conducted written test for 2005 passouts(basically for MCA, MSc & BE) in Sathyabama University campus, Madras. As it was a Off Campus recruitment, majority of the IT freshers from all over the state (TamilNadu) attended it. And the main reason is due to its brought down temperment in the eligibility criteria, which is 60% & above, and generally it will be 65 % or 70% in marks.

The long queue for registration

Queue takes many U turn....

The COP in action!!!

I was there with Veera Kumar, for 1/2 an hour around 8 in the morning and took few pictures from my new mobile, Nokia 6260 !!! Actually i thought, it was a mess due to the crowd. But it was not. Senthil Raja, a good old friend of mine told me that they have organised in a neat way. And I had a talk with few more people who came for the exam, and they also confirmed it.

It was a long queue, nearly 2 kilometers from the campus entrance, from 5am!!!! Even candidates who registered after 6:45 in the morning got 1pm & later batch to appear for the exam. Sudha, a MCA fresher & a school friend of mine said that they provided Lunch and she too confirmed that the arrangement was good & which cannot be compared to few of the Off Campus recruitments happened this month by some other IT companies(MNCs). 

Today my company, Saksoft also recruits 2005 freshers, but its happening in our office premises in Mandaveli, Madras.