Sohil Gupta

Nope, it’s not a new product from apple. It’s about an online hacking event organized under my college technical fest which I WON and it feels awesome. It lasted for around 20 days spread across 15 levels which you had to crack up using your hacking skills. I spent overnights to crunch the levels which ranged from the simple user and pass commented in source code to running the almighty brute force scripts on the page. I picked up a few  things like tampering with the HTTP request data as well as SQL injections to get ahead. All in all it was an amazing and nail biting experience for me and I guess I would be suitably rewarded with a cash prize. I’ll definitely be throwing a party to all my friends with this…

Out of excitement I almost forgot the link!!. Here it is

http://firewall.phoenix10.in/leaderboard

The first person in the leader board is  the admin himself.

Uncategorized

Today I realized the need of google in our lives. I heard this song Holy Diver in one of the southpark episode and thought of downloading it. I typed it in the google search bar and boom!! 502 server error. Google taken down. I couldn’t think of anything else to do so came here blogging my way because this is the only site which I can remember by name!!! Oh good, they are back again and with a brand new logo promoting Olympics in Vancouver 2010. Though this was only for like 2 minutes but if this happens for 1 day then we geeks are in some serious jeopardy…

Uncategorized

Hats off to people working at Apple. You guyz  simply rock!!! I had used apple products in the past like Mac Mini & macbook but wasn’t satisfied.  It seems like I was waiting for this thing only!! I know Ipod touch has been around here for a while, but I got my hands on it only about 1 month ago. And I am still scratching my head after seeing how could they pack so much in such a sleek and slim design.

First off, I am a game lover, and what better way to please me than providing the motion sensing technology!! I just loved the accelerometer feature. I literally clapped when I saw that I could steer a car by just tilting my ipod touch. I had heard about it earlier but it felt so awesome when I actually played it.  I can go on explaining other games also but there are really other cool things in Ipod besides games!!

This was the first ever WiFi enabled device I have used. And oh boy, did it impressed me?? Hell yeah. It feels so awesome when surfing net and zooming in and out of the web pages just by using two fingers only! The virtual keypad for typing addresses was so comfortable, I never felt the need for a stylus. And the best part, I could actually watch videos on youtube via youtube app!! yeeehaaw..

Ipod touch also included google maps app. And I have never seen anything like this before. Just for trial, I located my college and zoomed in, and oh gawd!! I saw every detail marked on the map about library, hostels, canteen, perfectly located as they are in real!! It is so useful for a new person coming to such a big college and knowing in advance where everything is situated.

I also tried to download some apps from app store. One app worth mentioning was Discover files. It enabled me to connect to my computer via Wifi and transfer documents, files, etc.  At first  I thought it was fake, but after uploading a powerpoint presentation and viewing it in real time on ipod touch, I was blown away. It helped me so much as most of my labwork was on my computer and I had to turn it on everytime I had to do something.

I can go on and on by listing features of this amazing product. But I must give some attention to the feature that has given it its name : music. I am not a music freak and very rarely I listen to music. But after seeing the “cover flow” in action, I am finding new excuses to listen to music!! In cover flow, you hold the ipod horizontal, and the albums together with their artwork are displayed one after another. The cool thing is you can just switch among them just by swiping your finger  and you can’t help it but appreciate the smooth animation it gives while switching. And oh, I almost forgot, it can also play videos and with so much of storage space, you can actually keep a couple of movies and rest assured that no matter what, you are not going to be bored!!

The only drawback I found in this ipod was that while previous ipods have been allowed to be used as a usb drive, this wasn’t. But actually I found out that this was due to some safety features so that you don’t accidentally loose all your data when it is not ejected properly. Besides, I achieved my goal by using apps like Discover.

I am so much amazed by IPOD Touch that if I continue writing about its features, then it’s gonna take me a whole day and it may still be incomplete!! Apple has done a fabulous job with this masterpiece and I just can’t wait for their next killer product. I am simply obsessed with this product and if you can grab your hands on this one, then go ahead & snatch it cos it’s worth it.

Gadgets & Gizmos

There are some things that you just should not do. One thing for example is watching an Anurag Kashyap’s movie. After the last  movie with absolutely no sense called “No Smoking”, he is back again with this shitty movie called Dev.D and seriously, after watching it, I want 3 hours of my life back!! I had watched some bad flicks earlier, but adding insult to injury this time are some mindless critics (supposedly on drugs just like Dev) praising this movie!! Times of India gave it 5/5 , HT gave 3.5/5, some even got the balls to stand up and say “go and watch Dev D and be blown away by a sample of what Anurag Kashyap as a director is capable of.” Are you nuts ppl?? How the hell could you give it a 5/5 whereas a masterpiece like The Dark Knight meagerly got 4.5/5 only?? I am even feeling guilty by taking out some time and writing a review for this movie and giving out this space for such movie. Anyways, the plot is the same as original Devdas except that today’s Devdas is modern. Here’s what you get to watch in this movie :

1. Some cheap adult comedy to give people a reason to hoot.
2. A bunch of crappy “presleys from Patna”  showing their ugly & horrible close-up shots to give you a ting of Horror coupled with songs like “emotional atyachaar” that give you a headache.
3. Relive some of the recent real life  controversies mixed  up with otherwise nonsense story to divert audience attention.
4. Faltu steamy scenes to cheer up perverts (including critics who gave 5/5 ).
5. An abrupt  ending with absolutely no clue as to where the movie was meant to be heading and makes you feel like throwing eggs and tomatoes on the screen.

It’s not that everything sucked in this movie. Abhay Deol’s screen presence for one saved the day for this movie and you can appreciate the fact that he’s getting better and better after watching this movie. And also, this movie is indeed going to appeal to those who just don’t give a damn about masala or entertainment value and are there just to appreciate the work of actors. But I am not one of them. I pay money and spend my time to be entertained.  If you are of my kind,  I would recommend you should totally avoid it.

General

About 3-4 months ago, I was stucked up in a a helpless situation. I needed to get some word document printed out by the next day. I got the document from my friend but when I saw the extension of it, I knew I was in big trouble. Its extension was .docx, which could only be opened on office 2007. But I had office 2003. I looked up on google, but couldn`t find a solution. I couldn`t do the job in time and hence became pretty much pissed off. I spent some time after that on finding a workaround and then when I found the solution, I couldn`t help it but say WTF. Microsoft itself had developed a patch for it. But I never got that result on google. All I got were cheap softwares claiming to convert to .doc but never worked. So I just wanted to share that link so that you people don’t have to fool around.

Link for patch

General 2003, 2007, docx, files, microsoft, open, word

If you are planning on making a personal home theater system, or just want to know about the buzzing term “blu-ray”, then check out this awesome guide created by tech2 people.

Also, if you want to clear some misconceptions in purchasing TV’s or DVD players, then check out these articles:

Part one

Part two

Gadgets & Gizmos

As many of know already, the windows 7 beta is directly downloadable for free from the microsoft site. This free download is available only for a limited period. This beta aims to pinpoint the bugs and technical issues which developers might have overlooked and to get the feedback from customers earlier than its official release. The only downside is that it expires on Aug 1st 2009  after which your PC will be rendered useless unless and until you purchase the official release or install a prior windows before expiry. Though there was some news that a team of hackers have created a patch to avoid expiration, I would  recommend not taking any chances and use this beta  only on a machine you do not need to use regularly as in case you don’t like the product, your pc may get useless after the expiry date.

More details on wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_beta

Download : Windows 7 Beta

General

I just finished up Dead Space, a survival horror video game. It was a nice journey comprising many dismemberment of limbs, chopping off heads, stomping the groin area, and shooting some yellow jellies (Play the game to know about yellow jelly belly!!). The amount of blood and violence incorporated in the game could satisfy hearts of  every gore lover. There was nothing like seeing the fountain of blood pouring out and hearing the cries of necromorphs when you strategically dismembered their limbs. The gameplay mechanics rocked. You never got frustrated with camera controls or stuck up in between objects while running. A great story with twists and turns of its own with awesome ending (although you feel it resembles Event Horizon), combined with over the top visuals, and scary sounds makes Dead Space the complete package.

The only complaint I have is that it was more of a shoot em up and blast your way through kind of game. It had nothing to do with the survival horror genre. You never got horrified as enemy spawn points were very much predictable, and as I never got short of ammo, there was no question of my survival. Hell, I was sympathizing and mourning for a fallen necromorph when I killed him by dismembering all of his four limbs and then stomping his groin several times.

Having played a last few survival horror games like resident evil 4, silent hill, etc. and now this one, I feel the survival horror genre has come to an end. Still, I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping to see the resurrection of survival horror genre with resident evil 5.

Games

I was always curious to know how does this internet thingy works but never got the time to read about it. Now during the setting up of this site, I came to know about it and just wanted to share this piece of knowledge. So, here it goes :

As you all know every computer has an IP address associated with it. The sites you see on the net are actually stored on a computer called  server. There are millions of them spread across the globe. Each server also has an IP address associated with it.

When you type a site`s name (URL’s like www.google.com) in the address bar, the web browser actually directs you to the server`s IP address. Just imagine how difficult it would have been if you would have to remember the IP address of every site!! Anyways, you must be asking how does browser converts URL to the IP address of the site?  The answer lies in DOMAIN NAME SERVERS (DNS).  It`s in reality a computer (Server, actually)  where URL`s are mapped to their corresponding IP addresses.

Now the strange thing is that there is a file on your computer also called HOSTS file which does this and associates the commonly visited site`s URL with  its IP address. Now, there are millions of DNS servers all around the world. And all these actually communicate with each other whenever necessary.

For example, when you  visit a website, the browser first checks the hosts file on your computer to locate the site`s IP address.  If it is not found then it asks the preferred DNS server which you must have encountered during the setting up of your internet from your ISP. When this DNS server also do not have the information, then it asks another DNS server for the information. In this way, DNS’s keep asking further until a match is found. When the proper IP address is found, it sends it back to your browser.

Obviously, it will take more time to open a website if IP address is found after many requests. Well, the good thing is all DNS servers that  were part of this chain of requests automatically store the new information of that site so that next time you visit the same site, it automatically fetches you the corresponding IP address and thus reduces considerable time in opening the website.

Web

Jeez.. I finally decided to setup my own blog, and just see what a timing I got…right when new year was around the corner. So, goodbye 2008 and welcome 2009.

And oh yeah! A very very HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of ya and have a blast folks!!

Uncategorized