Force India - A force to reckon with !!!

Force India created history today by finishing in the podium in the Belgium Grand Prix. Fisichella took force india to be second in the race. Earlier, he had got the pole position. Fisichella started from pole position but Ferrari's Kimi Kaikkonen passed him at the end of the safety car period.

Before this race the 'force india' was even struggling to get any points. The best they could get was the 10th position. This is a great result for Force India. Suddenly, with this race Force India seems to be a force that cannot be taken lightly.

After buying Spykar F1 team Mallya formed the Force India and entered Formula One motor racing. The team was formed in October 2007. According to Mallya, the previous year the car remained unchanged to the spykar cars of 2007 which left no mark in the F1 racing. But this year new aerodynamic to the cars suddenly changed the scenario.

Tulsi scares Swine flu away!!!!!

Tulsi a very commonly used natural herb is beleived to have a remedy for Swine Flu. Ayurvedic practitioners claim that Tulsi can not only keep the dreaded swine flu at bay but also help in fast recovery of an afflicted person.

Ayurveda, the Indian traditional 'science of life', always has a remedy for diseases when every other stream of medicine fails. Now, at a time when swine flu is spreading like wildfire across the world, Ayurveda has the remedy in the form of the miraculous herb, Tulsi.

Tulsi, the purest and most sublime plant, has been known and worshipped in India for more than five millennia for its remarkable healing properties. The anti-flu property of Tulsi has been discovered by medical experts across the world quite recently. Tulsi improves the body's overall defence mechanism including its ability to fight viral diseases.

Apart from acting as a preventive medicine in case of swine flu, Tulsi can help the patient recover faster. Even when a person has already contracted swine flu, Tulsi can help in speeding up the recovery process and also help in strengthening the immune system of the body.

Tulsi can control swine flu and it should be taken in fresh form. Juice or paste of at least 20-25 medium sized leaves should be consumed twice a day on an empty stomach. This increases the resistance of the body and, thereby, reduces the chances of inviting swine flu.

As its name suggests, Tulsi has again proved to be 'the incomparable' medicine - this time, in the prevention and cure of swine flu.

Three varieties of Tulsi leaves - Krishna, Vana and Katuki improve cell mediated immunity. These are anti-viral agents and improve body's resistance against various diseases including swine flu.

Moreover, the practitioners said taking Tulsi is safe as it has no side effects and can be taken along with other medicines. This is one of the main adantages of Ayurvedic medicines.

Publicity stunt by KKR?

If there is an award among all the IPL teams for the number of contraversies created by their team then it surely will go to KKR even though its just a week since the IPL has started. This is because this team is far far ahead of the others.

After their four captain theory, selecting cheerleaders through a contest, removal of ganguly as captain, and surely many momre to come in future...

A new threat has kolkata Knight riders in a fix. After the four captains theory from coach this time its the turn of an unidentified internet blogger.

Joy Bhattacharya, CEO, Knight Riders, said, "There is a blogspot which a team member showed me this morning (April 19) which purports to be from a member of the KKR entourage. Poison pen writing of the dirtiest variety, but far too many factual errors".

Some are named, while others have unambiguous nicknames such Lordie or Lord Almighty (Sourav Ganguly), Calypso King (Chris Gayle), Sheikh of the Tweak (Shane Warne), Kaan Moolo (Agit Agarkar).

In his latest post on Monday, the blogger says the team management has "started a witch hunt to ferret out the mole within 24 hours" and that "four youngsters have been shortlisted". But he is "not on the list".

This is the link of the blog. Fake IPL Player

IPL Schedule season 2

Indian Premier League 2 Fixtures (IPL 2009 Schedules)

April, Sat 18 Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings - CAPE TOWN
April, Sat 18 Rajasthan Royals vs Bangalore Royal Challengers - CAPE TOWN
April, Sun 19 Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab - CAPE TOWN
April, Sun 19 Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders - CAPE TOWN
April, Mon Chennai Super Kings vs Bangalore Royal Challengers - PORT ELIZABETH
April, Tue 21 Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders - DURBAN
April, Tue 21 Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians - DURBAN
April, Wed 22 Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Deccan Chargers - CAPE tOWN
April, Thu 23 Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils - DURBAN
April, Thu 23 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals - CAPE TOWN April, Fri 24 20:00-23:00 IST Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Kings XI Punjab - DURBAN April, Sat 25 16:00-19:00 IST Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers - DURBAN
April, Sat 25 Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders - CAPE TOWN
April, Sun 26 Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Delhi Daredevils - PORT ELIZABETH
April, Sun 26 Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals - CAPE TOWN
April, Mon 27 Deccan Chargers vs Chennai Super Kings - DURBAN
April, Mon 27 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians - PORT ELIZABETH
April, Tue 28 Delhi Daredevils vs Rajasthan Royals - PRETORIA
April, Wed 29 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Bangalore Royal Challengers - DURBAN
April, Wed 29 Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians - DURBAN
April, Thu 30 Deccan Chargers vs Delhi Daredevils - PRETORIA
April, Thu 30 Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings - PRETORIA
May, Fri 1 Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders - EAST LONDON
May, Fri 1 Kings XI Punjab vs Bangalore Royal Challengers - DURBAN
May, Sat 2 Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals - PORT ELIZABETH
May, Sat 2 Delhi Daredevils vs Chennai Super Kings - JOHANNESBURG
May, Sun 3 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab - PORT ELIZABETH
May, Sun 3 Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Mumbai Indians - JOHANNESBURG
May, Mon 4 Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers - EAST LONDON
May, Tue 5 Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab - DURBAN
May, Tue 5 Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders - DURBAN
May, Wed 6 Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians - PRETORIA
May, Thu 7 Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Rajasthan Royals - PRETORIA
May, Thu 7 Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings - PRETORIA
May, Fri 8 Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians - EAST LONDON
May, Sat 9 Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab - KIMBERLEY
May, Sat 9 Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals - KIMBERLEY
May, Sun 10 Mumbai Indians vs Bangalore Royal Challengers - PORT ELIZABETH
May, Sun 10 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils - JOHANNESBURG
May, Mon 11 Rajasthan Royals vs Deccan Chargers - KIMBERLEY
May, Tue 12 Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Kolkata Knight Riders - PRETORIA
May, Tue 12 Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab - PRETORIA
May, Wed 13 Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers - DURBAN
May, Thu 14 Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Chennai Super Kings - DURBAN
May, Thu 14 Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals - DURBAN
May, Fri 15 Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils - BLOEMFONTEIN
May, Sat 16 Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians - PORT ELIZABETH
May, Sat 16 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers - JOHANNESBURG
May, Sun 17 Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers - JOHANNESBURG
May, Sun 17 Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils - BLOEMFONTEIN
May, Mon 18 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings - PRETORIA
May, Tue 19 Delhi Daredevils vs Bangalore Royal Challengers - JOHANNESBURG
May, Wed 20 Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders - DURBAN
May, Wed 20 Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab - DURBAN
May, Thu 21 Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils - PRETORIA
May, Thu 21 Deccan Chargers vs Bangalore Royal Challengers - PRETORIA

May, Fri 22 1st Semi-Final - PRETORIA
May, Sat 23 2nd Semi-Final - JOHANNESBURG

May, Sun 24 Indian Premier League 2009 Final - JOHANNESBURG

ICC to meet BCCI, ICL

On monday ICC is going to meet ICL and BCCI to end the long standing fight between the two. Note sure if the talks will bear any fruit but this is the first time ICC is going to intervene and try to solve the issue. ICC is under intense pressure from many other boards to recongnize ICL and consider it as a legal entity since many of its players have joined ICL. specifically New zealand, pakisthan and bangadesh cricket boards. BCCI has been putting a lot of pressure on these boards to ban its players who join the ICL. With the economic slowdown going on all over the sponsors for the game have become less, although denied by BCCI.

If the meeting is successful, then it would be break the most powerful BCCI monopoly over cricket in India. With the introduction of the ICL the monopoly got a serious threat but its looks like the slowdown is going to prove to be a boon for ICL. Lets hope that this meeting is successful and we get to see much better matches than IPL.


Updates:

The ICC, ICL and BCCI failed to reach a resolution after a three-hour meeting in Johannesburg on the unauthorised league's request for official recognition. No further discussions are scheduled and the ICL's application will be now be considered once again by the ICC executive board in April. :(

brain drain

why brain drain in India is very high. If you look at the recent events happening in India you will realise the reason why.
Mr. Narayan Murthy was appointed special IT adviser for Sri lankan president. Murthy was critisized by many political leaders. Naturally he would be fed up of it and now has decided to head the IT department in that country and develop it.
In the need of crisis situation we need someone like him to bring things back to normal, but its very sad to see that he is willing to help other countries before ours. Not his mistake though. When asked about this decision he said that it is his personal matter and wouldnt like to comment on it. He has already set up a big Infosys center in Sri Lanka. He is like a god father of IT industry in that country. So when someone gives a good recognition that he deserves to he would obviously accept it.

brew mobile platform (BMP) Vs android google

Qualcomm's brew mobile platform (BMP) the latest version of brew has a lot of modifcations compared to its previous version. The changes seem to be mainly targeting the challenge given by android, the open source platform from google. Qualcomm is a member of the OHA, a partner in the development of Android as well.

BMP has some unique featues like it supports lua scripts, flash programming, trigML, lua and trigML debugging capabilities. The combination of such powerful programming languages in one platform is a boon the developer.

The platform is open which allows a wide range of applicatons to be developed. Even though the platform is open, the source is still not open. A lot of code is made open to the OEM's and not to the developer.

One of the biggest disadvantages or advantage in being a BREW developer is that for the developer to post any application in the server and to be downloaded by the user the process is very lengthy and expensive. With the introduction of BMP Qualcomm claims that the certification process is greatly simplified and takes less than 2 days. But yet for the application to be available to the user it needs to be uploaded by the operator/carrier. This process may take lot of time. The same in the case of android market is very simple. The developer just needs to upload it in the market and the user can directly download it from there. The only difference is that the applications can be bug prone and its not certified. You may not get tech support for these apps.

Evaluation of android platform

The android platform is a mixture of Linux kernel and a Java application interface. Evaluation

The Linux kernel is very well tested over the years. In android, this has been slightly modified to suit the embedded / mobile environment. Linux as a OS is the most stable. So having the same as a mobile OS is also good.

For the developers the Java platform is most suitable for developing applications, since you don't have to worry about pointer and OO language increases the usability and maintainability of the system. Java forms one of the largest developer communities. So this combination is ideally suited for a mobile platform. Since java runs very slowly on a mobile, the virtual machine is modified. The Dalvik virtual machine is register based instead of the usual stack based VM's. This supposedly runs much faster.

Overall the platform looks very well organised and suits the mobile environment. Now after making this a open source we need to see the role of google in promoting and maintaining this platform.

Performance of android market

The android application market is quite similar to apple store, the main difference being that the applications are not controlled by google.

Anybody can register as a developer with a nominal fee of $25 and post their applications into this android market from where the users can download their applications. Presently only free applications are allowed to be posted and hence the market is given the name beta. Quite a good number of application are available now for free.

The rating system is same like that of you tube. How good this system will be only time will tell. Nonetheless its very easy for developers to post their applications onto this market. This should attract a lot of developers to post their applications in this market. As the number of applications increase how google manages it remains to be seen. It should have a mechanism to discourage apps that have bad rating.

building blocks of android application

To understand the basics of an android application and how it works, first we need to understand these terms.

Activities: This is the atomic functionality. An activity is usually a single screen in the application. When associated a UI it will be similar to a page/form of other platforms. There exists a stack of activities that is maintained by the activity manager. Every activity in android is associated with a class. It runs/exectues in the process that creates it.

Intents : Android uses a class called 'Intent' to move from screen to another. It has the information describing the action, data etc.

Intent Filters: specifies what the activity is capable of handling.

Service: Service is the one that performs a particular task for another applciation. Application which makes use of this service runs on different processes. Since they run on different context/process it makes use of Binder IPC for the communciation.

Content Provider: This is normally used for accessing lower level functionality like file access, network access etc. The content provider provides the platform related functionality to the running application.

Task: This contains a collection of related Activites. These set of activities perform a particular task. This is comparable to an application on other platforms.

Process: This is a simple linux process.

why android was open-sourced

Android is now released in the market and the first google phone is available. But what is the benefit that google is getting by making in open source. Till now I haven't come across a convincing answer to this. Google gets its main revenue from advertising in the internet. The only reason that could be is that, by making android open source it tends to increase its revenue in the mobile internet users market. Only time will tell what its strategy is... advertising on mobiles ??? :-)

apache license for android

I read a few blogs on why google chose apache license for android. It mentions that if android were to use gpl license then nobody would then adopt android, because any properiatery software that are pluged-in to android would have to be made open source. Even though it would lead to more openness and faster development, many would like to avoid it. It has even chosen bionic libc just to keep the gpl license out of user space. It would be a nightmare for developers if everything that they develop were to be made open source. So apache license does make sense...

brew and android

Android is released after Brew so you can expect all the advantages of brew to be incorporated in android.

One of the best features of Brew is that you can write extensions. i.e. plug in components of the applications and introduce new features into the application. This feature is almost non-existant in any other software platform. In other platforms such an application can be created only by native application developers. In android, there exists no difference between a native developer and third party. So anybody can write such applications even if the feature is non-existant.

In Android, this feature is implemented in the form of AIDL. You can write one application which provides a specific service to another app. (this is as good as an extension). Since this is developed as a new applciation it can be shipped later.

Another striking difference between the two platform is that brew supports only CDMA mobiles whereas Android supports GSM, UMTS technologies. Since Android is open-source you can expect it to support CDMA in the near future.

porting to android

I have been working on brew platform from a long time now. For a change I am now presently looking into the android platform. Intially I was thinking that android platform would be similar to that of J2ME. But it isnt so. Only the basic J2ME libraries are supported in android. The application structure, activites, tasks and threading mechanism is quite different than J2ME. This means that for an application to port from J2ME to android is as tough as porting it from any other platform. But the number of API's supported by android is very good which makes porting to this platform easier. This is only my first impression of this platform, have to see how it goes...

Learning android platform

To learn android platform it would be better first to go through the presentations in the android website.

There are four presentations that give the detail about the components of the android platform. After understanding this you can choose your area of expertise and dig deep into the same.

I felt it would be better to learn about the platform by first concentrating on the kernel. The kernel is essentially the Linux kernel with some modifications for the mobile environment. Modifications include the binder (IPC driver), Power manager, bionic libc etc.

Android has tried to remove all the disadvantages of various software platforms and designed this platform to find a way around it. This is why I feel android would be a great success in the market. Also this has the added advantage of being open source. This would make the development much faster as more eyes will look into the code. This has even forced nokia to consider making symbian open source.

Looks like the telecom world is going through the phase of open source. Whether this will make telecom market better or kill it completely needs to be seen...

downloading git and android source in ubuntu

1. Install ubuntu 6.06 or above.

2. while installing linux if you are inside the firewall you need to modify /etc/apt/source.list. comment the first line and uncomment all other links.
If you are inside a firewall and the links to ubuntu updates are blocked while installing linux then you need to modify the above file. The first link will be prompting you to insert cdrom which needs to be commented and the other links will be commented if there is no access to it while installing linux. This can be later modifed by the root.

3. sudo apt-get update - this would update the sources.list with the latest packages available in the ubuntu public sites and the dependencies of each software to be installed.

4. sudo apt-get install git-core to install git. -This step will install git along with the dependent libraries. Alternately you can download the deb file and install in which case u need to install the dependent libraries yourself. I would prefer installing it this way first to install all the depending libraries first and then installing the required revision of git.

5. specific version of git is available at http://git-scm.com which can be downloaded and installed.

6. Follow the steps as given in http://source.android.com/download

With all this steps I was able to download the source of android at work :-)