Most likely not. But while trying to help a colleague resolve a Java related issue, we un-installed the existing incompatible version of Java and tried installing the latest one from the net. But this is the error we got while doing it –

(click on the image to blow it up)

This when we were trying to download and install in New York. OK, the company is part of a German conglomerate so the routers may be based in Germany but even then we shouldn’t be seeing this message. The possibility is still remote, they could be right here in US, in New York.

I am sure countries like Cuba, Syria, Iran etc. would not have the privilege to directly access all this stuff from American company websites but why in heaven’s name should somebody sitting in US get this kind of a response from the website.

(Click on the Pic above to increase it’s size)

A Tech news journal while covering the recent launch of MySpace India and MySpace Korea, found it strange that while Korean MySpace was offered in Korean language, the Indian one was in English.

What was he or she expecting, the “Indian” language? Something Indianese?

😀

The writer has to be totally clueless about the language situation in India if he/she finds it difficult to comprehend how come the site is in English.

India probably has the largest number of English speakers in the world in one country. Perhaps the accent is different and the style is more British oriented, but it is English nevertheless. (Have an American listen to the Brit cockney accent and I’ll be damned if they make out a even single word spoken).

Another World Camp venue has been announced and it came as a complete surprise to me, albeit a pleasant one. If somebody is asked to venture a guess for a tech event venue/seminar, most of us would automatically wager on either the Bay area or New York. If nudged to go beyond that and think of some southern venue, most of us wouldn’t bet on anything beyond Atlanta, Georgia.

But guess what?! It’s Birmingham, Alabama. Having lived there on and off, ( place is kind of like home to me now), seems like I was totally clueless about the city’s tech leanings.

According to the official SXDS website, the inaugural event would be held on 26-28 September of this year. The events are still being finalized but would consist of –

* Social Media/PR/Marketing
* Web development
* A full-blown WordCamp

In fact this happens to be a first, definitely a good sign to see such unconfrences spreading beyond the regular cities on West coast and East coast.

Heard all this from here. Going by the comments on that site, the event sure seems to be kicking some dust.

Today again IIT was featured on the Dilbert Strip. Check it out on the right. But I have to confess the strip did not make any sense. Not to me at least. It wasn’t even remotely funny, just some inter department politics and war. Maybe its some total nerdy geek corporate drama.

Asok conjures up all his IIT might to vaporize the powers of a stink eye that a colleague was giving him. In the process it seems he bit off the poor guys head.

The secret behind the power is of course his days spent in not just any Indian under graduate school but THE IIT.

His win is all that matters. Go Asoook!

On a side note it would be interesting to hear what Scott Adams thinks about the, much under fire, American skilled worker program. Also known as the H1B visa.

I am going to research a bit on this and dig out his thoughts, this is if he has already made them known. If he hasn’t. then I am going to leave a post on his blog urging him to write something about it. (I recommend you to nudge him too).

Think about it. Had the H1B program not been there, Indians would not have been working in US in such high numbers and consequentially, Asok may not have seen light of the day in this, by now legendary syndicated cartoon strip.

So in effect, Asok is a direct result of the success of Indians in the H1B program. Does Scotty like that? We hope to find that out soon.

On a related note, what do you think are the odds that the next new character introduced would be a Chinese. Possibly a fire breathing dragon.

I am going to experiment for a few days by placing the Dilbert widget on the right side bar. This way we won’t have to visit the official site to check the latest strip while at work. We all can pretend to innoxiously land up on TechBanyan, read the posts and also read what Scott Adams has in store for us and have a great laugh.

The widget is quite easy to use, you might want to click on Prev button and read what the jokes were for the previous day.

Let me know what you think of the idea.

Many of you would have noticed the heavy chatter in the media about China and its atrocities in Tibet. With the oncoming games, people are the world are protesting about the excesses China has been committing.

Apparently, CNN too couldn’t resist jumping on the bandwagon when one of their hosts trashed China on its harsh policies.

This ruffled quite a few feathers. Besides the Chinese government coming out against CNN, a bunch of hackers planned to get back on CNN by launching a full scale cyber attack against the online presence of news giant.

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By Ghatotkatchh

When I compare India and China, I see fundamental differences in how these countries have been led over the last century or so. The difference is aggressiveness vs subservience and purposefulness vs meandering along. there are those who would point to the latter qualities and say they are virtues. However, I find these qualities (if one may call them so) to have produced mediocre results.

Of late, there have been increasing comparisons between India and china in media and foray across the world. Indians have, of course, fanned this trend claiming how our societies are free, democratic and law based while china is none of the three. Of course, since we are all three, we are the better bet in the long term while china may dissolve into social and political disorder.

Scratch the surface a little and this propaganda seems to be true. After all the media is muzzled in china, so much of the real situation does not ever seem to come to the notice of the world at large. Their companies flout all law and the only thing that seems to work is “guanxi”. There is social unrest in the rural areas that bursts forth every now and then.

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Saw the new Honda Odyssey ad today and got hooked right away. While channel surfing the thing that grabbed my attention and made me stop from moving on was the heavy sounding guitar riffs. Don’t hear much of these lately. Then I noticed the accompanying animie-like video and that was not bad either. (I am not an animie fan BTW, but this one sure looked good).

So what I found was, apparently this commercial is a new one in a series of Respect The Van campaign, where what looks like a a Viking god and other similar Viking characters like unicorn riding princess, a merlin etc come to life.

A new Honda Odyssey van blooms into picture alongside magic mushrooms and crystals to the rocking sounds of 1977 rock track Barracuda.

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If you are using Microsoft Windows Operating System, do the following:

Create a notepad file with any name anywhere on your system and copy paste the following text in the file – ‘Bush hid the facts’ (without the quotes).

Save the text and close the file.

Open th file again.

Notice the weird behavior?

Any explanations?

One of the world’s largest defense contractor and air craft manufacturer, Boeing, is joining hands with a unit of India’s Tata group to test and validate a super computer to run dynamic simulations for the wings of its air crafts.

According to a press release,

Tata’s Computational Research Lab will model high-lift aerodynamic simulations in three dimensions on the Eka System, the fastest super computer in Asia, to help design and develop airplane wings.

The joint statement and the accompanying press release was quite highfalutin sounding but basically what it boils down to is that Tata’s would make use of its Eka super computer to design and test the wings. I am quite skeptical about the design part here but its a start.

Also, the press release had Boeing estimating India will need 911 planes worth $86 billion by 2027. (I don’t doubt the high estimates but, just exactly how do they arrive at a figure like “911”?! ).

Besides earning some lucrative operating margin, this assignment would definitely give bragging rights to Tata’s as well. It would go a long way in projecting a positive image of the company’s ability to under take and execute state of the art, cutting edge projects and not just run of the mill outsourced service and maintenance projects.

More details from here.

As an aside, Boeing is also angling for India’s requirement to provide for hundred plus multi role combat aircraft for the Air Force. No decision has been finalized yet but its quite apparent that Boeing, along with other companies in the fray, is involved in heavy lobbying on this front as well.