Parachute XVI - A must Listen!

This is a friend's band - i heard this piece and just fell in love with it. I think you should also listen to it... Simply AWESOME!

http://www.parachutexvi.com/

Trojan attack targets #Facebook users

Security experts have warned Facebook users to be on the alert after the discovery of a new password malware scam linked to the Bredolab Trojan.

Email security firm Websense claimed yesterday to have seen 90,000 instances of the attack, calling it a "new wave of malicious spoof email attacks".

The messages purport to come from Facebook and are designed to appear as a simple password reset confirmation. However, a .exe file in the mail contains a hidden virus with a nasty payload.

Websense said in a security alert that the .exe file connects to two servers in order to download additional malicious files. The victim's PC then joins the Bredolab botnet, giving hackers full control.

"This spam email attack is designed to play on the subject at the forefront of users' minds: their password security," said Carl Leonard, Websense security labs manager.

"Falling for this scam could lead to the unsuspecting user becoming part of a botnet. With therecent hack of web email accounts, users would feel more compelled to open an attachment that purports to hold their new password, as they'd be worried who changed it in the first place.

"Our advice for users is to always go directly to the web address you have an account with and reset passwords there."

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, confirmed that the malicious emails have been spammed out widely across the internet.

"The 'from' address has been forged, and the attached file is in fact a piece of malware. Sophos detects the malware as Troj/BredoZp-M or Mal/Bredo-A," he wrote in a blog post.

"Don't make life easy for the hackers hell-bent on infecting your computer, stealing your identity and emptying your bank account. Exercise caution when you receive unsolicited emails, and protect your computer with up-to-date security software."

Doctors and the Consumer protection act - #India

There was an interesting debate going on on the Radio this mornig - as to should the doctors be brought under the consumer protection act. Personally - my views are mixed. A part of me says yes - yet a part of me says no.

No - When someone looses a person or goes through a loss of some kind or is affected by any way- the first question they ask is "Why me?" a feeling of victimization comes in, and then they want to realize their loss by taking "Revenge" how - by filing a case. If doctors try everything to save, no matter what - would that be seen- or would it be that the outcome is noted?

Its easy to sit back and say - yes, i tried, but i am sorry, and the patient thinks- i have to live with this, and not you. how can this be? I personally believe this will lead to unrelated cases against doctors and putting a lot of pressure on the legal system which is already burgeoning.

In certain cases, due to legal reasons - doctors don't treat accident victims, simply due to the fact if they die - the doctors will be responsible and a whole host of police complications. From a legal reform perspective, doctors who do not treat patients should be taken to task - esp accident cases, in which the first hour is the most critical hour.

With a hospital bed density of 3.9 beds per 1000 - the reach of healthcare in India is abysmal, and thus the need to have victims rush to the nearest hospital is of greater importance than to insist - accident case -go to the Government hospital.

In these cases the doctors should come under the purview of the consumer protection act - which simplifies the process of seeking justice due to reduced paperwork and other legally related issues.

In the recent past, a close family friend lost a relative. The patient was in a coma for nearly 3 weeks in the ICU. With the kidneys shutting down and the liver stopping as well. Now, the doctors and in this case I would blame the hospital - pushed the parents to the point where they are now in debt by about 15L. As a parent, any possible hope that the child would survive, will be a ray of hope- simply because NO parent wants to bury their child. However, to a layman, this case of the hospital scans, xrays and infusing blood into a coma patient who's organs have all but shutdown is a process of opportunistic. The said hospital also told the parents to get two medicines that cost over 2L each "which would help clear the body of toxins" created by the defunct liver.

After three weeks in a coma - the hospital took the patient in for an "operation" to clean up the body.

Would these procedures help or were they excessive in order to extract more from the desperate parents is a question I am not qualified to answer, but should doctors come under the purview of the consumer protection act (which incidentally they are) - is a yes.

The next logical question - should a hospital be a corporate entity?

Simply #Gross!

Pictures taken at a friends House! What did the manufacturers think before they made this? Incase you are wondering - its a scorpion with its tail inside a cobras mouth. I hope as hell that they are breeding these snakes and not killing them from the wild.

Only in thailand!

achievements and yearning!

This morning, like with all mornings this week, I have been dropping my mother at her office. So it is around 9am whn we finally leave the house and i am able to drop her off in about thirty minutes, and get back to my office in about another twenty minutes.

this morning, like other mornings was the same. I reached home, and decided that instead of waiting downstairs, I would go up and say hello. I also wanted to use this excuse to go up and collect my hands free - a small device on my mobile that I hve een missing sorely- so badly that i did not go cycling since I would not have music to listen to from the phone.

After dropping my mother off at her office, I started back. The drive back was un-eventful untill gemini flyover. What was so different today?

I come past gemini, and am on nungumbakkam highroad - or according to the official releases - uttamar gandhi salai. the reasoning behind this - can be asked to any body after handing them a patiala whiskey- which would make any true blooded man, woman and for pretty much any human - sozzled out of their sane minds.

So as i was driving past the Park hotel i see what appear to be busboys, hiding behind a pillar, but if they were attempting to hide it was a rather tactless move as the city in its entirity could see them, much like the ostrich. The guys had on such loose suits as one of them was demonstrating to the other- he pulled up the sleve of the suite, and adjusted the cuff of the shirt. Now that usually is how its done, in theory, but in practice- he yanked up the damn things almost till his elbow. Therefore, in a single, swift motion, he was able to demonstrate to the entire group of people who were stuck in traffic on the main road - that they dont know how to wear, correct fitting suits.

I personally was laughing at him, but what caught my attention was not the two of them, or the other security guards hanging around the hotel, nor the total lack of traffic on my side of the road and something that is more packed than a can of sardines with traffic on the other, but a lone man on a cycle.

I would have guessed his was either a carpenter or a plumber as he was carrying a hacksaw on his bike. He was looking at those two people with a mixture of awe, jealousy and ambition. That one fleeting second - I was thinking - how many times have i gone through that blend of emotions.

the realization came - life is made up of moments, and stringing these events together gives us the experience and a set of experiences is called life.

The beginning ?

Wanted to check something on twitter - so went to the site, and lo behold!

the significance of the image- i have no idea- but its a start.

the iPod Journey

when the ipod was introduced in 2001, it was disruptive. to the simple fact, it took the personal music world by storm. But then to ensure that there is repeat business, Apple launched the iTunes Store. now that just rocked. With it starting operations in 2003, iTunes store has sold over 6 Billion songs by Jan 2009- thus making it the largest music store in the US.

What caught my attention was this advert on the Apple website- which showed that the iPod can now record videos. This is a brilliant product extension. First as a music player. That means that the entertainment desire is satiated. Next it moved with photos and movies full filling the higher need of visually capturing the owner. Next came the camera- that extended the need to capture moments and save them. Wifi to become the mobile computer- Now finally - the motion capture- in effect, the iPod has replaced the Camera, Walkman, Storage device and any other device that a family might need while going out - the only logical extension they can do to the iPod is inbuilt a GPS system - thus making it complete entertainment center.

Pretty exciting times- next they need to increase the battery life - or embed solar cells onto the back of the iPod that will allow it to charge while in the sun.

This is exciting- the possibilities are endless.

#Intel heating up the notebook space - Nehlem goes mobile!

Looks like the next big thing after the centrino -

Chip giant Intel has taken the wraps off its latest mobile processor based on its Nehalem architecture.

During his keynote speech at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco, Dadi Perlmutter, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, announced details of the Core i7 Mobile processors.


The new quad-core CPUs are designed for high-performance mobile PCs and, like their desktop counterparts, feature Intel's Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost technology, which allows the processor clock speed to be ramped up past stock frequency depending on workload.

"With intelligent features like Intel Turbo Boost Technology, Hyper-Threading Technology and a host of others, Intel has revolutionised the laptop PC processor, delivering performance when you need it, energy efficiency when you don’t," said Perlmutter.

"For the first time, mobile users can choose a laptop that delivers internet-server like speed, right in their laps for the most demanding tasks, from intense gaming to digital video editing and social media applications."

There will be three mobile Core i7 processors, the 920XM, 820QM and 720QM, which run at 2GHz, 1.73GHz and 1.6 GHz – with the possibility to boost to 3.2GHz, 3.06GHz and 2.8GHz respectively.

Formerly codenamed Clarksfield, the new units also include two-channel DDR3 1333MHz memory support and full 1 x16 or 2 x8 PCI Express 2.0 graphics.

The Core i7 mobile processors will be available in two flavours, a regular and an Extreme edition, with the latter supporting Extreme Memory Profiles and the Extreme Tuning Utility, allowing users to overclock and fine-tune the laptop.

According to Intel, big names such as Asus, Dell, HP and Toshiba will begin shipping laptops using the Core i7 mobile processors today, with others due to start using them in the coming months.

As you might expect, the new chips are not exactly cheap. When bought in trays of 1,000 units the 920XM will cost $1,054 (£642.31) each, while the 820QM and 720QM are priced at $546 (£332.73) and $364 (£221.82) each when bought in trays of 1,000.



http://is.gd/3HVr4

Paper records are still better managed than Data

For many companies, management of electronic data is still worse than that of paper records, according to a recent study.

Information management industry group AIIM cited a recent survey of some 700 companies that indicated that many firms are still not taking management of digital records seriously.

The survey found that 26 per cent of companies have no official management policies for electronic records, while only 56 apply legal hold to electronic documents. Paper documents, by comparison, were retained for legal hold in 71 per cent of companies.

The advocacy group blames the disparity in part to muddled attitudes towards management of electronic data. The company suggested that for many enterprises, data retention and archiving is considered an IT issue rather than a records management issue.

"We found that over a third of organisations, if challenged, would not be confident that their electronic records had not been changed, deleted or inappropriately accessed," said AIIM president John Mancini

"These companies would be at a major disadvantage in any legal action, defending or prosecuting."

Management and retention of digital information has become a hot topic for enterprise IT in the past 10 years. Regulatory acts such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPA in the US have forced many companies to apply tighter standards to the way they manage information.

http://is.gd/3HURT

#Thoughts about life

We are all searching for something. What particular thing varies from person to person. It is to satiate a need, a want or a desire. The search is what gives us meaning, meaning to our existence, meaning to our waking up each morning, and saying “today is going to be a good day” or “today is going to be a horrible day”. This search leads us to the far corners of the world, up the highest mountains, down the deepest oceans, and to the extreme of climates.
What is your search comprising of? As you evolve over time, a lot of things are either clearer to you, or make less sense as it already made little sense earlier and it is what makes one sit up and thing about what you are doing and what you are going through.

When you go through life, you tend to think that you have experienced life, be it multi cultural exposure or be it multinational exposure. What we are is forged by what we want to be. What we want to be is forged by our ideals. The search what we undertake is a search that never ends. So does that mean we can never define who we really are?

When you believe that you have found something, nature’s course is that you realize that something else is missing or is incomplete, so you start a search for that iteam or feeling. First it is love, then money, then power, then happiness then health. Imagine it to be like a large shopping cart, and the more we pile up, the more difficult it will be to navigate the aisle of life. When we need to turn through and complete everything before we become old, we end up rushing through a lot of memories, experiences and situations that allow us to look back in life and sya “what if?”

The “what if” scenario is something that haunts us all, and thus it raises another quest – a search for the “what if” equivalent to the past experience.
In our quest to discover, we tend to be overwhelmed with feelings and desires, however, these are all obstacles in our quest. These are placed in our paths for a reason. For experience. As they say, god does not give us what we want, however, god gives us the opportunity to bring out that quality. Similarly, as we go about living life, we tend to gain experience. This experience is what is put together to make us better individuals in life. We need to constantly learn from these expriences to allow us to make better judgements, and take better decisions in life.

the #JetAirways Drama - #brandImpact?

With the recent pilots strike that was called- and the further 256 odd pilots going on strike for the re-enstatement of the 2 sacked pilots, thus putting the entire jet airways operations on hold - and holding the entire aviation industry to somthing just short of ransom. What was really surprising was that during one of the news articles, I rememberd seeing a sign being held up by other jet airways employees- are " 2 pilots more important than 13000 staff?"
it got me thinking- why did they strike in the first place? that 2 pilots got sacked for "forming a welfare group" and this is what the "welfare group" is capable of?
Whom are they kidding?

a 18 Crore a day loss
281 Flights cancelled

now jet is offering a 50% discount. But the brand image has been hit so bad.

How do you measure the brand impact? Folks are going to take a bug hit at this- there was a news article about the customers lost faith due to last minute cancellations.

the largest percentage of jet is busienss travellers- now gaining the confidence is going to cost a LOT more.

Long term impact- will take a while to calculate!

Sidvin Festival of Speed

just back from the recently concluded sidvin festival of speed. some really awesome racing, and from whre i was watching, some real close calls.

some pictures from the event.

#LongExposure - Night Shots

We had a nice power outage, which appeared to have knocked out power in lots of places. We were sitting in our balacony and took a few shots!

#India Independence Day 1947 Pictures- Awesome!

I just got this via email - i dont know the source or the copyright information - so if someone believes this is copyrighted material and want me to take it down - i will happily comply!

Crimson Chakra - A review

I chanced apon a visit to Crimson Chakra over the weekend, and out of disdain i decided to pen down everything i thought was simply terrrible at the place.

This might be long.. uh oh! :)

firstly, the restaurant claims to be a fine dining restaurant, however, there was hardly any fine in the dining. the place was crowded, noisy and the waiters were sweaty and flustred. Now, when you come to a restaurant where you shell out so much money from your pocket, one would expect that there would be decent linen on the table, and a white pristine table cloth, well arranged napkins and adequate cuttlery. However, this was far from that. Ther was tissue paper and two table spoons on the table. There was a general mat which can be bought at LifeStyle and the glasses were very ordinary. there was no soup spoon and we had to use a table spoon. They removed all our cuttlery with the starters and did not give us alternatives for the rest of the meal.

There were no table cloths and it was this runner that ran across the table. the runner was dirty and the toilet had piping exposed and no paper/ towels.

Either there was something wrong with the water supply or it was not being filtered enough, with every dish and drink smelling of stale water, it put me off to no extent.

The drinks had no substance in them. I tried a ginger and jagery based drink which is not the best drink to have on an empty stomach considering it was quite sweet.

the soup was nxt - the first thought that comes to mind with their soup is broth. Spicy broth. there was no chicken or even a hint of it when we went through it. It was spicy rasam. very spicy rasam.


The next came the starters - the variety in meat was wide- Prawns, Fish, Chicken and Mutton, however, they were pretty similar in their taste and there were almost no accompanyments. Yes, they did provide a set of dips - but there were a 3 dips and 2 powders. Dunno what they expected people to use the spicy powders with spicy chutney and spicier starters.

The Appam - it was an insult to any true bred malayali to eat such abysmial apams. Cold, flat and thick. Appams need to be hot, crisp and cannot be brought one at a time for a large group. What are they thinking?

there ware two dishes to be had with the appam and roti, and then the biryani was brought. That was just OK. nothing great.

The sweet dishes that we got were just terrible. there was WAY too much ghee in the goosberry halwa and the other had some goo (called cotton seed souffle) coming out. finally stuck to ice cream - and had the most sour cherry on it.

All these combined, makes me think - what are people doing putting such expensive restaurants together. At 425 per head for lunch + Taxes - this si no wWAY a cheap place, and the place was in no way "fine dining"

so, they need to pull their socks up togther with some hard work - elese - i hope they see the light of six months!

#Airtel - you are bad!

I just received an SMS from Airtel -

Kindly note- All Local SMS sent on 2nd August (Friendship day) will be charged @50p/SMS. Dial 171152 (Toll Free) For more details.

On dialing the number- you get the same pre recorded message. how can they do this? if they are doing it for "friendship day" what stops them from doing the same on all other holidays.

So even though I have paid Rs 99 for unlimited SMS (9999 sms actually) per month, I pay for the sms on that day. Doesnt this correlate to extortion?

Airtel - you suck! im being open about it. You are a very bad person. The minute the number portability comes out- im outa airtel. hate you more and more!

outstanding! #quotes

The object of our Constitution makers was free movement and exchange of goods throughout India. It is essential for the economy of India and for sustaining improving living standards of its people. It should ultimately lead to one-country-one-people concept and economic benefit of the development should reach every citizen wherever he lives. The people of the state must sink and swim together. The long-run prosperity and salvation lies in union and not division. Economic unity is the main force for achieving cultural and political unity and stability and progress can be achieved only by demolishing artificial boundaries and barricades and should be sidelined.


http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1409791-post1.html

Of luck and #entrepreneurship ! #startups

I was thinking the other day, as an entrepreneur, do i rely on luck or chance or both? well, as they say, you get lucky if you are at the right place at tht right time, but does luck play an integral part?

if you have a good day, you will think back and say - yes, i heard this song in the morning, shampooed my hair and used this soap, then there becomes a favorite soap, then it becomes the only soap you use. I think as an entrepreneur, you tend to become a lot more superstitious- so to say.

i remember during the 12th board exams - more than a decade ago, ( i like that phrase) i used to get dropped in the morning, on the way, i used to listen to music, and the days i could not listen to music in the car, i used to panic, and go and mess up the exam. then i started carrying a walkman, listening to a cassette even if the car music system did not work. So how is that relevant now?

My case exactly, if i listen to something nice in the morning, start feeling happy, then use my favouritest shampoo and soap, eat my favorite serial, and then wear my favorite dress, there is a high probability that i will hav a nice day.

now that brings me to the second point and infact, a point which i believe is quite important- positive thinking.

i believe that we should go to our day with a cheer and excitement, not or dispair... yes, there are bound to be stressful events, however, allowing those events to bog you down is not the best thing to have around.

so as an entrepreneur, i think luck plays a pivotal role, and possitive thinking paves the way for luck!

abysmal Customer service @ shopper stop?

Quite a horrifying tale of pathetic customer service at Shopper stop. considering its proximity to my place, i think i would have easily spent over 30,000 there atleast.

Its even more pathetic when it hits so close to him. My wife had visited and was talked to such...

I had visited Shopper’s on Thursday, July 23rd ’09 at about 8.00 PM. Having selected a shoe, I was waiting my turn at the billing counter. Once I got to the front, there seemed to be some trouble with the billing machine/system. Meanwhile there was an executive counting out cash (of someone else’s purchase) at the same counter.

Having waited for over 20 minutes at the counter without any billing having taken place– I happened to ask the person behind the counter if he could please let me know when the billing for my item could be done.

To which he responded in the most condescending manner “Can’t you see I’m counting out money?! If you’re so impatient – why don’t take this and count!”, and he extended the cash towards me!!
I was OUTRAGED at being responded to in such as manner – to a very polite question to which he could have given a simple answer!!!
I told him so – to which he responded again in arrogance “Don’t be so impatient the systems are also down – if you can’t wait, just leave!”. I told him I would like to meet the manager and not have him responding to a customer in SUCH A RUDE MANNER! He then billed my item in 2 minutes time and shoved it across the counter, all the while muttering to himself!

When i read this email - i was quite aghast! this is very sad! Where are we heading in this world? Does shoppers stop believe that they can get away with such a crime?

Bad doggy shoppers stop! I know for one - im going to stop going there. please do the same!

Flyby Chennai!

Whilst making our final approach to chennai domestic airport, we were flying quite low - given the fact this was an ATR. I took the liberty of trying to take a few picture, however, due to the total spaz nature of the phone, it brought the flash on even though i turned it off. The airhostess then decided to give us a tip "take a video" which was one of the most brilliant ideas i heard.

anyways, took a short clip of the approach and flgith over chennai at night. Need to go again, and shoot a better video... :)