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See Counterfeit Reality Through Your cell Phone..!!!

Posted by Vikramsinh at Saturday, January 2, 2010

Recently one interesting news captured my attention, A 21 year old Mysore based girl developed a cell phone application that can find out fake notes. Read full story.




Neha N., an engineering student from Mysore created this application to find out whether currency notes are real or not. Its big relief in today’s world where counterfeit notes are growing geometrically in number. Number of attempts were made in past to fight against the fake currency notes but this seems to be a good solution that common people can use. Thanks to bright engineer who won cash prize of 1 lakh at innovation challenge. Let’s hope that mobile producers add this new innovation to cell phones..!!!

Take a Moment to Look Back....!!!

Posted by Vikramsinh at Thursday, December 24, 2009

Another year come and gone, so many things happen sweet and bitter, happy and sad; we got reasons to smile and cry...

As we look back the year was full of so many surprises, things turn upside down and pace of life become faster. We have to keep up with changing time and find out what we want back from our lives, what exactly make us feel happy...

We have to contemplate what we gain and what we loss, mistakes we made, how to avoid them.

News papers, TV channels are flooded with series of articles/shows on this years vital incidents that impact world in a good or bad way. So I am not listing down all those things but one interesting thing I found is Google’s zeitgeist. A way to see what people search on the internet, what is the spirit of the time.

Michael Jackson is the most googled term this year worldwide and facebook comes second, but in India it's different.

Katrina kaif beat Michael in India and become most googled celebrity in India for consecutively second year. For the second year running, Katrina Kaif has also grabbed the top spot as Asia's sexiest woman - as awarded by the UK's prestigious Eastern Eye magazine. Looks like Katrina is poised to rock the world...

Last week tragic demise of Britney Murphy spreads shock waves like Michael Jackson; more interesting thing is Black Hat SEO used it for spreading system infections. As news spread fast more and more people tried to search about it and that’s what is exploited by some cyber criminals. They embedded malicious codes in the links which were listed in top search results. So beware next time when you click any search result link while searching on hot topic. more about this attack




Lastly enjoy the celebration time and make maximum out of your life ...its precious and beautiful..enjoy each moment and life will become a continuous celebration..!!

Merry X-mas




Theorem that took 357 years to prove...!!!

Posted by Vikramsinh at Sunday, December 13, 2009



“And perhaps, posterity will thank me for having shown it that the ancients did not know everything.” -Pierre de Fermat


Man is always fascinated by complexity of mathematics. The mathematical problems, theorems, conjectures proposed are sometimes pose such a challenge that it took years of efforts of many brilliant mathematicians to solve it. People who solve it are truly obsessed with only one thought, that is solution to the given problem.

Here is world’s one of the most famous and celebrated theorem which took 357 years to prove. Statement of the theorem looks so simple that any schoolchildren can understand it, even though it poses challenge to mathematicians from all over the world. Yes...it's famous Fermat's Last Theorem...!!!



Fermat wrote, “It is impossible for any number which is a power greater than the second to be written as a sum of two like powers. I have a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.”

Mathematically a^n = b^n + c^n where a,b,c,n are integers have no solution for n > 2

Pierre de Fermat (1601 - 1665) wrote it in 1637 and it is very confusing if he had the proof. He wrote that he have proof but the margine of the paper is too narrow to contain it. It's mystery and different people have different opinions about it.

The proof was established by Andrew Wiles in 1994. Proof is not directly related to Fermat’s last theorem its proving another theorem that implies Fermat’s last theorem. As a child Andrew
was curious about the theorem and why it is not solved for so many years. He worked hard but found dead end. He then started to work on elliptic curves which was popular contemporary field of study and coincidently the very field leads to the proof.

He buried himself for 7 years, he left his job as a professor and sideline his social life. In 1993, he comes up with proof. But soon his dreams got bigger blow, he was devastated when one of the questions asked by colleague challenged the correctness of the proof. Once again he obsessed with his work. He started work to fix the problem. After several months efforts with his former student he comes up with the correct proof.


This incredible journey to get proof for 7 years of ceaseless efforts is captured in a movie called The Fermat's Last Theorem in 1996. Simon Singh and John Lynch's film tells the enthralling and emotional story of Andrew Wiles. Here is the link to watch the video.

This is one of the most interesting stories about mathematical proofs I came across. It’s really amazing struggle of man to get the ultimate truth ..!!! and I think that’s what makes our lives meaningful.

The Three Gorges Dam ...Incredible Engineering...!!!

Posted by Vikramsinh at Saturday, December 5, 2009

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Man is always craving for more advanced and comfortable life. His never ending quest to improve and excel in all directions and aspects of life brings today’s extremely transformed, complex and wonderful world.

Here is the perfect example of historic engineering feat, Three Gorges Dam. Its stats will amaze you; its view will mesmerize you and changes in the environment brought by Dam will compel you to think about our material greed.

There are around 86000 dams overall on the world and around 46000 belongs to China. Energy hungry China always crave for more and more power. Chinese coal mines already taking many lives, but Chinese leaders are more concern about prosperity of nation than people's lives.

Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest electricity-generating plant of any kind. Constructed on Yangtze river. The greatest of the projects took 17 years. Started in 1994, the dam was expected to be fully operational in 2009, but due to additional projects such as the underground power plant with six additional generators, and due to the complexity of the ship lift, the dam is not expected to become fully operational until about 2011.
Dam costs total of US$40 billion. It causes the displacement of over 1.2 million people from the 60,000hectares of and which will gradually be flooded by the resulting 640-kilometre (397-mile) long reservoir. Here is the Official site.

Statistics shows Comprehensive Project Construction Scale.

The construction includes the following work:

-- Removing 102.59 million cubic meters of stone and earth and filling with 29.33 million cubic meters of stone and earthwork;
-- Mixing and pouring 27.15 million cubic meters of cement;
-- Erecting 281,000 tons of metal structure. It used 463,000 tonnes of steel, enough to build 63 Eiffel Towers;
-- Making and erecting 354,000 tons of reinforcing bars;
-- Building 231,000 square meters of leak-proof concrete walls;
-- Installing 32 power generators with a 700 MW capacity each which results in combined capacity of 18.2 million kilowatts;
-- Creating Dam of height 101 m from river level and 185 m from see level, width 115 m, length 2335 m


The project produces hydroelectricity, apart from that provides greater flood control and river navigation capacity. Up to September 2009 the dam has generated 348.4 TWh of electricity, covering more than one third of its project cost. Project management call it as social and economic success, a breakthrough in the design of large turbines, and a move toward the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The technological breakthrough is really stupefying. Here is a video animation of the generators.

There are environmental advantages such as reduction in air pollution and green house gas emission by generating electricity from hydropower instead of coal and by providing pollution free navigation. Waste water management. Afforastration. Flood control and drought relief.

But it has darker side also
Threat to Ecology - The dam will significantly decrease the river's flushing capacity, and the pollution ratings will increase.
Erosion and Sedimentation - There are two hazards uniquely identified with the dam. One is that sedimentation projections are not agreed upon, and the other is that the dam sits on a seismic fault.
Affected aesthetic values - Cultural and historical relics are being moved to higher ground as they are discovered, but the flooding will undoubtedly cover some undiscovered relics.
Security - Threat from terrorists.
Earthquakes - There is also the potential for earthquake-induced peak ground acceleration to overcome the strength of the upstream face of the dam which, coupled with the immense weight of the reservoir water, could cause breaching.

I don't know what to say..Whether it is good or bad? Better you decide and tell me ....

Revolutionary Sixth Sense Technology..and Indian connection..!!!

Posted by Vikramsinh at Sunday, November 29, 2009


Imagine the world where you don’t need specific surface like flat screen or monitor to carry out your digital workouts. All the digital processes that are done on computer or your iPhone can be
done where ever you want, even on your palm you can project key board and screen and start to write email or do any other work same as you do on your computer. Isn't it thrilling ...yes its no more imaginary science fiction but very real world phenomenon. Thanks to Sixth Sense Technology discovered by Pranav Mistry at MIT Media Lab.
'SixthSense' is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information. Find more about sixth sense project.

You can feel its true thrill when you actually see the video, you will be mesmerized by technology, what a brilliant invention. It will change the whole world and the way we live. The most interesting thing is pranav wants his invention to be open source so that any one can contribute and use it for free. It’s rare in today’s world where almost everyone thinks in terms of money. He has given demonstration of this incredible technology at TEDIndia talk. TED is Technology Entertainment Design group that promotes new innovative ideas by sharing it. Watch the demonstration video.


Currently Pranav is a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT's Media Lab. Check out pranav's profile. Recently Venkatraman Ramakrishnan won Noble prize in Chemistry for the year 2009 which made India proud. The inventor of sixth sense technology, Pranav, also
have strong Indian connections. He has done his BE in computer science from Gujarat University, and Masters from IIT Bombay which once again shows the great Indian legacy. Hats off...!!!

The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS

Posted by Vikramsinh at Wednesday, August 19, 2009



"We all use math every day; to predict weather, to tell time, to handle money. Math is more than formulas or equations; it's logic, it's rationality, it's using your mind to solve the biggest mysteries we know." - NUMB3RS



We are always curious about predicting future or solving crimes, day to day life's complex problems with some technique and science. This is very difficult task. It requires lots of efforts along with very precise logical, Rational and lateral thinking. Thats what Charlie do while solving the crimes for his FBI Agent brother Don Epps. Charlie is the protagonist of one of my most favorite TV series. NUMB3RS. Amazing TV series, which gives an insight of how Maths can be used to solve complex conundrums of life.

Many people will not agree that Maths can solve the crimes, but charlie perfectly believes in everything is numbers (and so do I). It was started way back in Jan 2005, NUMB3RS completed 5th season this year. In typical episode, Charlie helps Don to solve a crime investigation case using Maths. He is Maths professor at CalSci (California School of Science and Technology), a fictional institute but his math is much more real. Many real world mathematicians are consultants for creation of the series. The presentation of all events in which maths is used for solving crimes is really amazing. Here are some links for watching the episodes.

1. All Complete Series
2. CBS Primetime

Recently I found one fabulous book called "The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS" written by two real world mathematicians. It gives whole lot of things related to series, maths used and related real world situations. Here is the link to download the book.



All other links related to show are given in the section "Road to El Dorado" of this site. Enjoy the reading and wait for the 6th season in September...

Thanks,

Yours
MagicNumb3rs

Refine..Redefine..your Search

Posted by Vikramsinh at Tuesday, July 7, 2009

We all are victims of our own curiosity...
with the invention of world wide web, Information starts exploding like anything; data explosion and geometric growth of information make it difficult to find information that we are curious about, When it comes to internet use, Search engine is what almost 99% times we use to find required information on any topic, pictures, MP3 audio songs, videos, movies and infinite other things.
When we want to find a particular thing on web, our fingers invariably types 6 letter word beginning with letter G.. in the address bar. Yes, Almost 90% people turns to GOOGLE when it comes to internet search, though invention of google is amazing thing, a highly effective weapon that net users have, The suitability of search results always depends on the search that you want to do. So Google is not always perfect search engine for your search criteria.
When you search the same phrase in different search engines then you will get different results and you may miss some websites if you have myopic to stick to one search engine. Below is the list of General search engines
My First best choice and strong suggestion for general search
Blackle http://www.blackle.com/ - Energy saving search

Others are
Google http://www.google.com -no need to explain
Bing http://www.bing.com - Formerly MSN and live search
Yahoo! http://www.yahoo.com
Teoma http://www.teoma.com
About http://about.com
Duck duck go http://duckduckgo.com/
AlltheWeb http://www.alltheweb.com
AltaVista http://www.altavista.com
AOL Search http://search.aol.com/

Meta-search engines
Now you find it difficult to search same thing in different engines.
So for your help meta search engines are ready, it simultaneously sends your query to two or more general-purpose search engines and eliminates duplicate results. Try Some meta search engines that I find useful ...
Mamma http://www.mamma.com
MetaCrawler http://www.metacrawler.com
DogPile http://www.dogpile.com
Search.com http://www.search.com
Hotbot http://www.hotbot.com

Multimedia search engines
Most search engines help you find text, but what if you want to find a song, a picture, or a video clip? Rather than waste your time using a general purpose search engine to find an MP3 file of your favorite band, try using a special multimedia search engine instead. They are specially designed for the search.
Here are some of the more popular multimedia search engines:

MIDI Explorer http://www.musicrobot.com
Blinkx http://www.blinkx.com/ - Video search engine
Ditto http://www.ditto.com
FAST Multimedia Search http://multimedia.alltheweb.com
picsearch http://www.picsearch.com/ - image search engine.
SpeechBot.net http://speechbot.research.compaq.com
Seeqpod http://www.seeqpod.com/ - Playable search

For today ..That’s all, I will give list of some more specialized search engines next time till enjoy the Search...
If you find any thing interesting then let me know.

Thanks

Yours
Search explorer

Wartime Diaries ..History Speaks

Posted by Vikramsinh at Friday, June 19, 2009

Last friday, on 12th June, Anne would have celebrated her 80th Birth day, if she did survive the horror of holocaust in second world war.

Anne Frank will live forever in our hearts.....
"I want to go on living even after my death! And therefore I am grateful to God for this gift, this possibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me. I can shake off everything if I write; my sorrows disappear; my courage is reborn. But, and that is the great question, will I ever be able to write anything great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?" - Anne Frank
She is the most famous victim of Hitler. Her diary is one of the most widely read book. She wondered if her voice will echo across the centuries? Will people remember her? And her words come true as her spirit will never die and she will go on living even after her death for thousands of years.
She had amazing power to express her thoughts, she wrote her favorite diary in the darkest time of her life. Kitty, her diary, never betraying, faithful friend which she got as a gift from her father on her 13th Birth day, 12th June 1942. Even though she was too young to write something like she wrote in her diary, she worte excellent. Her thoughts were so mature and brilliantly put in words. It always stuns me like anything.
Her hope to experience all the things that anyone desires in teenage, sadly, got crushed as she took her last breath at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945 just few days before British soldiers liberated the camp (15th April 1945). At last fate betrayed her.
Her father Otto Frank survived the war and published her diary 'The Diary of a Young Girl'. When Nazi forces invaded Netherland, Otto Frank took his family to a secret place. Anne and her family go on hiding in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Miep Gies and her husband were amongst the few who knew about the hiding. Earlier Miep was working with Otto Frank. She along with her husband took care of primary needs of food, cloths, medicines etc of Frank family and help them in their difficult times. She never cared about risk involved and tried to spread some light of hope. Currently she is 100 years old and live in the Dutch province Noored-Holland. Find more about Miep.
While in hiding Anne wrote her diary. She called their secret attic place as secret annex.
She was a very vivacious girl who loves to express everything in her mind. Her passion for story telling was miraculous; she talked a lot that often got her into trouble. Many times she wrote 100 times that "I am not going to talk so much" as a punishment for her talks in classroom, but she never changed. And how can we forget her story of three ducklings which gifted her new name ‘Ms. quack quack‘. She dreamed to becoming actress. She also had interest in Greek Mythology and family trees of various well-known ancestries. She hoped that war will end someday and she would be free to follow her dreams, but her lifeline ended in unfortunate way.
The Diary reflects the spectrum of emotions of a adolescent girl. It sheds light on how human spirit can break into pieces in difficult times like war, how people fought against the boredom that comes from loneliness in the hiding. How a little girl’s world gets upside down. How her dreams, her desires get crushed under the tremendous pressure of ruthlessness and cruelty, when she wanted to fly in boundless sky.
If you still did not read her diary, then its time to get a new brand copy of the diary. It will strike your mind, really awe inspiring. Hats off to eternal angel.....

Have you heard this name...Rutka laskier?
As we moved on, time can transcend but history has always new secrets to reveal in her heart, deeply buried. Time have power to open these secrets. Some times these secrets vanish somewhere and some times they come up with amazing discoveries.
Many of us know Anne Frank but how many knows the name Rutka Laskier?Her story is almost same as Anne; she was born in Poland and became the prey of the deathtraps in Nazi concentration camp. It is believed that she died in Auschwitz concentration camp. Rutka wrote her diary for 3 months, which describes her life in the time of holocaust in 1943 at the age of 14. Her friend Stanislawa Sapinska hides the diary in her house. This diary's existence remained unknown until 2004, when Stanislawa Sapinska came forward with the diary.
Rutks's father survived the war and relocated in Israel, remarried and had another daughter Zahava Sherz. He died in 1986. Zahava Sherz never knew about the diary until she surprisingly came to know about the diary and her half-sister (Rutka).
"If only I could say, it's over, you die only once... But I can't, because despite all these atrocities I want to live, and wait for the following day." Rutka wrote in one of her last entries in the diary.
Here are some interesting links.
1. Related Snaps.
2. News Entry in Washington Post.

As years pass, men rise and fall but their stories will remain forever, reflecting boundless human spirit. And people from future generations will wonder about these stories. As History speaks....... and story goes on….
Thanks.

Yours,
Eternal Soul.

Gear up..Fasten your belts..Speed Machines are ready...!!!

Posted by Vikramsinh at Sunday, June 7, 2009

Time to gear up..sports events calendar is already full, feast for fans and passionate followers of sports. Many events back to back brings never ending excitement. Made people mad, creating one of the most tense, joyful, overwhelming moments. We already seen the T-20 IPL, Champion's league in the last month and now ongoing French open (shocking results for Rafa and sharapova), T-20 world cup keep us engaged, but can we look at something unexplored.

Let’s check out the racing events, mainly Bicycle and motor car racing.
Before starting I will shed some light on the history and background of bicycle racing. It consists of many types but long distance stage races are favorites among enthusiasts. Three major races of this type are Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana. All the 3 grand tours (major annual racing events) were originated from the same need; need to increase the circulation of sports newspaper.
First started Tour de France in 1903 then comes Giro d’Italia in 1909 which is inspired by the success of tour de France. Third one, Vuelta a Espana, started bit late in 1935. As the names suggested, all tours traces a circuit around most areas of respective countries. The Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and World Cycling Championship constitute the Triple Crown of Cycling. Tours are stage races (around 21 stages, each covering some predefined distance) running for 22-25 days, covering around 3500 Km long distance, making them most difficult to survive.

Giro turns 100....
Last Sunday (31st May) seen the Denis Menchov's (Team Rabobank) victory in Giro d’Italia. This year Giro is celebrating 100th anniversary. It was 92nd race from its inception. Race was special as it brought back one of my most favorite sportsman, Lance Armstrong. Though he already broken his collarbone and undergone surgery. He not only recovered from injury but also participated in the race and secured 16th place in overall ranking. It’s really amazing; racing for such long distance can show there is no limit to what extremities human spirit can go. I love this sport because riders fight back all odds, no matter how difficult the journey is.

Be ready..the Tour is waiting
One of the most famous sports across the world, le Tour de France. Simply brilliant and extraordinary. See the statistics, 20 teams, 180 riders, 3500 km distance, 23 days, 21 stages, 40 km/hr average speed. These numbers are enough to explain everything. Here are some quotes to feel it‘s incredibility, "Tour de France is arguably the most physiologically demanding of athletic events." The effort was compared to "running a marathon several days a week for nearly three weeks", while the total elevation of the hill climbs was compared to "climbing three Everests."
This year tour is scheduled between 4-26 July, almost 1 month from now. All potential winners are dreaming the same, victory in tour. Along with 7 time winner Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador (Team Astana, winner Tour de France - 2007 and Giro d’Italia - 2008) is a good bet. Defending champion, Australia’s Cadel Evans (Team Silence-Lotto) is also good contender. Apart from these other favorites are Damiano Cunego, Alejandro Valverde, Denis Menchov, Carlos Sastre and Danilo Di Luca. I can’t wait anymore to start the tour…

Turkish GP...Can we expect something unexpected?
Here we are, waiting for this weekend's Turkish grand prix (GP); if you have some idea of Formula 1 (F1) then probably you will not feel totally lost, for those who feel the same I will present some short introduction.
The F1 is motor car racing competition with 16-19 grand prix races annually. 11 teams each having 2 drivers, commpete in the races. At the end of the year, driver with highest points awarded as the winner of Individual driver's championship and the team with highest points (combined points of 2 drivers of same team) will be the winner of constructor’s (teams) championship. I will write in more details about F1 history, actual races and rules in future.

Right now we are looking forward for 7th GP of the season. Jenson Button of Brawn team seems unstoppable with 5 GP wins out of 6. He is the most speculated winner and will start from 2 position on the grid (1st row) in the Sunday‘s race; Ferrari's Felipe Massa is eyeing his 4th consecutive win on the same circuit. This is the first anticlockwise circuit out of two. Massa is good at this circuit, so can we expect some miraculous performance from him??Apart from these two, 23 year old German, Sebastian Vettel is starting from pole position (1st position in 1st row). The question is can Button remain invincible this time also? I want Massa to win but reality is pointing towards Button’s win. Let’s see how speed machines behave with respect to time and space..
Thanks.

Yours,
Speedo maniac mv4ce3krnb

Changing waves....Keep the Track

Posted by Vikramsinh at Wednesday, June 3, 2009

This is my first blog. Here I will try to discuss, explain, elaborate very interesting things that fascinate me and make me wonder for all of my life. You can ask anything related to the matter, if you are curious we can debate also. Things that attract my attention have deep impact on my thoughts. Many things hit my mind and change the direction of my thoughts. They are like giant waves in the deep sea, when they rise they take behemoth ships with them, no matter how strong and powerful ships are or how fiercely they are fighting against the water to get in the direction they are destined for.

As human beings we evolved over the period of time from Stone Age to current era of science and technology, making life extremely volatile and incredibly complex. You absolutely don't know what woe or joy next moment will bring to your life. So it’s very important to make most out of every moment gifted to you. I think Life is a continuous celebration and we can celebrate it only when we see life from that prospective. Life is a very complicated optimization problem with so many variables. We can not maximize each and every variable individually, but we have to consider all of them at the same time and optimize it within the constraints imposed by real world situations. It’s a bit mathematical, till this point you have got some vague idea what’s the first thing that impacts my thoughts deeply. Yes, you guessed it right, it’s MATHS. No it’s not frightening; some people just don't want to understand the simplicity and beauty of mathematics. As time will pass, you will come to know about the other areas of my interest. Don't make impression that I am going to discuss some boring and complicated math’s problems. Not at all..!!! Instead we will learn its simplicity and why it is called as the Queen of all sciences.

Many other things turn me on. To list down, some are, History (It includes many things, I am especially interested in WWI and WWII , post war situations, Middle East conflict, French and Russian revolutions..etc). Sports (with wide range ...special interests are Formula 1, Cycle racing, Cricket, Football, Chess, Baseball..etc).

To add more, Current affairs, Sketching, Painting (watercolours), Movies (generally Hollywood...even Bollywood people have some latent talent), Music related bands, Medicine (Its inspiration source lies in my family, Doctors have it in their blood...I am not a doctor so don't expect much deeper knowledge like medical professional ..but still enchanting world), TV soaps (Hindi soaps are strictly no no...) , Science and technology, Inspirational people, Engineering feats achieved by man, Greek mythology, Books and Novels...list is never ending.

If any of the above mentioned things grab your attention then keep the track...you can get here lot of amazing things and will come to know many things we see in the real world are merely illusions.
Thanks.

Yours,
MagicNumb3rs