Perspectives

After close to two years of ignoring my Video ipod, I took it out today to get it back to life. I always had a hunch that it was a hardware issue, but I didnt want to decide so quickly.

The basic problem being, as soon as I power up the ipod, it will show me the “Language” screen and as soon as I try to do anything with it, it will get stuck. And all I got to do now is to reboot/reset it by now famous “holding the Menu and center buttons” for a while.

I tried updating the firmware, formatting, restoring etc. but nothing would work. Then, I decided to install linux on my ipod thinking something might be wrong with the firmware partition of the hard drive.

Atfer spending a few hours, I realised that linux was getting stuck as well. Now, I gave up trying to be nice to the ipod. I ripped open the thing by after reading an article and watching a few videos. Although, I scratched the top case a little bit, it opened up nicely and I pulled out the Toshiba MK3008GAL hard drive out. I am convinced that the hard drive has conked off, but I can’t really prove it.

Then, I started hunting around to see if there are any suppliers of the hard drive in Bangalore. None. Very disappointed. I have sent a mail to a couple of folks from Good-Hardware-old China and found another reseller from Ebay. I have shot them a couple of emails to ask them about taxes and import duties etc. Will post an update once I get a hand to the hard drive.

So, If you have a dead ipod and you are around here in Bangalore, let me know and I will help you with it.

Was just trying to see where Opus Bangalore where, apparently, this gorgeous subject constantly performs. And found out that Google has integrated results from local.google.co.in. They have also managed to crawl reviews from Burrp. The data set itself hasnt improved much though.

If you’re a Web developer, or have an interest in web and online standards, and you also like booze, then Pub Standards is the place for you. If you don’t like booze, but don’t mind hanging out in a pub with a fresh lime soda, that’s good too.

The plan is to meet at a pub somewhere near Brigade Road, talk about web standards, and current trends on the web, have a few drinks, have a lot of fun and meet new people.

Be there.

For full details, including attendance, visit:
http://upcoming.org/event/268075

Heard about it from Siddharth. Was an independence day special I guess, went over all the way to Hebbal. The place is called Lumbini Gardens along the shores of Nagavara lake, close to Hebbal flyover, bangalore. Well, Drum jam was not so bad.

Started off as a passive on-looker, I was slowly in the groove and before I realised I was following Roberto’s beats with a single congo in my lap. At the least, it was a different experience. Nobody invites me to play drums for free. Was fun. Thanks guys.

Here are a few videos I captured. And one of the fat white women in the middle is vasundhara Das.

From Dr.Dobb’s,

New York State’s Department of Transportation has integrated Google Maps with its system for reporting traffic conditions, giving travelers more up-to-date information. The department’s Condition Acquisition Reporting System Web product, known as Cars Web, reports information on roadwork, accidents, and closures

Interestingly, this traffic information tool’s url reads “carsgoogle” Looks like these folks have installed cameras all over the place and give you live (well, almost) pics from them. Quite cool and fairly handy. There are also other layers such as “road work” , “accidents” etc.

So, how long do you think it will be before Bangalore gets it’s own live camera for traffic ? 10 years? Well, You can watch it right now at sify’s bangalorelive. Enjoy Maadi!

Meenakshi, one of the people who write in burrp blog has come out with this neat list of places to be during this world cup. I know we just shamefully lost the match to Bangladesh ( and I shamefully sat and watched the entire match! ), but what the heck, it is still fun. Most of them are high end restaurants, so dont go there if you wallet is not heavy.