Renie Ravin | Founder of IndiBlogger.in – on Web Design, Photography, Advertising

Tools for facebook

// July 6th, 2007 // No Comments » // Web

I’ve noticed increased activity on Facebook and declining activity on Orkut of late. So for all your facebook freaks, here you go:

Facebook Powertools: 150+ Apps, Scripts and Add-ons for Facebook

If you’re like me and can’t be bothered going though 150 apps, here’s someone who’s done all the work for you:

Top 10 facebook apps

Bengal white tigers having a moment

// March 25th, 2007 // No Comments » // 202500 Pixels, Photography, Popular

Run, G.I. Joe, run!

// December 7th, 2006 // 2 Comments » // Cribs

This article by David Swanson on desertion in the US army is a must read. Excerpt:

As long as there has been a U.S. military, people have been leaving it. That choice has never been more appropriate than today. Individuals who signed up to defend the United States are engaged in a war that was sold on the basis of lies, was entirely unnecessary, is making us less safe, has nothing to do with defending anyone, and which involves the horror of slaughtering men, women, and children by the hundreds of thousands. The majority of Americans want the war to end and just voted accordingly in the Congressional elections. The majority of Iraqis want the war to end. The majority of American service men and women in Iraq want the war to end. And taking part in this war is illegal, whether you are ordered to do so or not.

Approximately 6,000 Americans have refused to report for duty or deserted in order to avoid taking part in this war, or to avoid taking further part in it. Many have objected to the stop loss program that requires them to serve longer than they had agreed to. Others have objected to the rationale behind the war and the horrors that are part of it.

Interestingly, the same article on Alternet says 8,000 Americans deserted instead of the 6,000 mentioned in the original article posted just 2 days earlier.

Yahoo hates Google

// December 7th, 2006 // No Comments » // Cribs, Google

Do a search for the term Google using Yahoo! Search and you’ll see a special search box on top of the results labelled “Search the Web with Yahoo!”. They’re singling out Google for this treatment, as a search for MSN or Altavista will show you.

Google hasn’t returned the favor, which I’m sure they won’t.

[ Edit - The special search box has been removed. Guess they're friends now. ]

Essential Firefox extensions

// December 7th, 2006 // 3 Comments » // Apps, Popular, Web

If you use Firefox (which you really should!) you would know about the plethora of extensions available for it. Here’s a list of extensions I use with Firefox, and why:

Web Developer
That’s what I am, so this is an obvious extension for me! It add loads of useful web developer tools to Firefox. Every time I see something on the web that makes me think “hmm… wonder how that’s done?”, this toolbar gets me the answer much faster that looking through the source code!

FoxyTunes
Control your music player straight from the browser. Especially useful on slower PCs, when switching from the browser to maximize iTunes or Windows Media Player takes a good few seconds more than you can stand. Also has an alarm clock for your favourite morning song!

IE Tab
Some older websites (and newer ones designed by strange web developers) are designed only for Internet Explorer (Air Deccan, for instance). This lets you quickly switch a web page to use IE’s rendering engine.

ForeCastFox
Displays the local weather forecast in the status bar. Not very useful for me, but I like the pretty satellite images.

DownThemAll!
Download manager. If you’ve got the bandwidth, this can increase the speed of a download by upto 400%. Supports resuming.

Google Toolbar for FireFox
Pop-up blocker, and all-in-one search tool. If you use Google extensively, this is a must-have.

Wizz RSS News Reader
Self-explanatory. Read my earlier post on why I prefer this over other news readers.

Gmail space
This lets you use your 2.5GB (and counting) Gmail space to store large files, without having to attach them and send them to yourself. It has a nice FTP-style interface.

SiteAdvisor
This one from Mcafee helps to keep your PC spyware free by warning you about dangerous websites. Integrates with Google search results.

FoxyMeter
Tells you how many pages you have surfed so far, and other information. Mine tells me that I’ve surfed 58414 pages since September 22nd 2006, at 768 pages per day. I really do need to get out more.

This list is by no means exhaustive – they are only the extensions I have come to find useful. You can download hundreds of extensions from the Firefox Add-ons site. Also see what Download.com and PC Magazine have to say about it. Remember that installing too many extensions can slow your system down, depending on it’s configuration. This dude installed 100 firefox extensions at the same time just to see what would happen. Wonder what he was tripping on!

What’s the extension you cannot do without?

2015: The Future of the Internet

// December 3rd, 2006 // 3 Comments » // Technology, Web

Firefox icon designed using Fireworks

// December 2nd, 2006 // No Comments » // Apps

And the final Firefox logo was rendered in Fireworks. Yes, that’s right. Not Corel Draw, Illustrator, Freehand or Photoshop. Yay!

Check out this Firefox Crop Circle via Google Sight Seeing. That couldn’t have been easy!
Source: hicksdesign

Still looking for that perfect HDR

// November 19th, 2006 // 2 Comments » // Featured, Photography

I’ve been trying my hand at High Dynamic Range (HDR) images ever since I saw this slightly over the top one at Flickr. After many, many messed up attempts I’ve finally managed to get a few decent ones at Vellore last weekend:

If you aren’t familiar with HDR photography, you probably think these images were run through a hundred photoshop filters. Actually, HDRs are a result of combining three separate photographs of the same scene, but with different exposures. When the three images are combined, you get all the highlights and shadows in great detail. Click here to see the three original exposures of the Vellore fort, followed by the final HDR.

The trick with getting decent results is knowing how far to push the final output HDR. If you go too far, it would end up looking like this. I liked this shot on Flickr, think he/she got it just right. This night shot is nice as well. For some tutorials on taking HDRs, go here, here, here and here.

KITT, run over the bastard!

// November 18th, 2006 // No Comments » // Gadgets, Technology

“Self driven” has just acquired a whole new meaning. The DARPA grand challenge is a race for driverless cars organized by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. None of the cars in the 2004 race made it to the finish line, but in 2005 the Stanford Racing Team’s Volkswagen Touareg named “Stanley” completed 212 km in less than 7 hours. (Off road terrain)

It was followed minutes later by Carnegie Mellon’s “Sandstorm”.

The course included three narrow tunnels, more than a hundred sharp turns and a winding mountain pass with drops on either side.

Guess what’s planned for 2007? A race through a city! A good 96 km urban course, with 6 hours to cross the finish line. I’m certain the competitors will make much better drivers than the average driver we encounter on our way to work.

Here are the “basic rules” for the 2007 Challenge:

• Vehicle must be stock or have a documented safety record.
• Vehicle must obey the California state driving laws.
• Vehicle must be entirely autonomous, using only GPS and the information it detects with its sensors.
• DARPA will provide the route network 24 hours before the race starts.
• Vehicles will complete the route by driving between specified checkpoints.
• DARPA will provide a file detailing the order the checkpoints must be driven to 5 minutes before the race start.
• Vehicles may “stop and stare” for at most 10 seconds.
• Vehicles must operate in rain and fog, with GPS blocked.
• Vehicles must avoid collision with vehicles and other objects such as carts, bicycles, traffic barrels, and objects in the environment such as utility poles.
• Vehicles must be able to operate in parking areas and perform U-turns as required by the situation.

Source: [Wikepedia]

So when do we get to ride around in these babies? GM plans to launch a self-driven Opel Vectra in 2008. The DX version comes with Turbo Boost. I wonder if they’ll hardwire the three laws of robotics in it…

Can you imagine autos without auto drivers? No excuses like “it’s uphill” or “I won’t get a return fare” or “It’s raining”. Just select a location on it’s little GPS map, swipe your card and you’re good to go.

This whole thing reminds me of Stephen King’s short story “Trucks“. By the way, the Knight Rider movie is scheduled for 2008, with “The Hoff” playing only a minor role (thankfully) and Ben Afflek playing Michael Knight. Check out the awesome teaser poster below, and more about the future KITT on Gizmodo.

A little nostalgia:

Check out the full list of KITT’s features!

Google steps into event management

// November 15th, 2006 // 7 Comments » // Google

Don’t these guys ever take a break? Now you can search through events that other people have made public on their calendars. Simply put, if I want to find out if there’s anything happening in town over the weekend, chances are I’ll find it one someone’s calendar.

Here’s Google’s explanation.