Hello...Who is this?

Don't you start a call with Hello..Who is this? every time you get a call from an unknown number? Why does technology depend only upon the contacts of the mobile phone? I wish there exist a Header-Variable like concept in cellular technology where in every mobile number will carry along with it, a certain set of data of the caller, like his name.

How do you think Google manages to redirect you to www.google.co.in when you actually type google.com? The browser is the client software that you use, and your server, google.com will get the details like IP address, Time zone, locality, Browser (Whether IE/Firefox). By manipulating these details, the server software makes certain decisions!

I am unaware of the technical intricacies that enables mobile phone communication. I wish it existed, or I knew about it, if it already exists, for it will help track-down so many things and better the life of the end user. My Aunt, who is not so well-versed with a mobile phone usage, asked me, "Why is it not showing your name Viki?" after I gave her a ring. "It displays my daughter's name though!", was her next best observation. Well, she wasn't actually aware of the fact that the only number in her mobile phone contacts was her daughter's!

Getting started with jBPM 5

I once wrote a blog on setting up jBPM 3 with jBoss ESB which proved useful to lot of folks. Now I am going to present a similar one for the all-new jBPM5. There is indeed a huge difference between the two and I must admit that the new product stack is looking very good, loaded with many must-have options any BPM product should ship with.

I will write about all the technical insights in a separate post. One good news you should know is that the installation has got a lot easier in this version. Let's just get started with jBPM 5, install it, and see it for ourselves.

Prerequisites:

1. JDK 1.5 or higher (Download Page)
2. Ant 1.7.1 or higher (Download Page)
3. PATH variable: properly set for both.

Diving in...

1. Get the Installer (Download Page) (Link last updated on Jan 7, 2013)
2. Install jBPM5
3. Import a sample project
4. Run the sample project

Watch this video...

Steel-less Steyn

I have heard of Stainless-steel which is a commonplace in Indian Kitchens...but for the first time, saw a steel-less Steyn in South Africa...The Fast and Furious Right-Arm pacer: Dale Steyn, i meant...I seriously doubt whether this man is made of flesh and bones...Probably, Rock and Iron Rod is what he is made of, I suppose.

Sheer power...startling determination...terrific pace...amazing attacker...Truly a dream bowler who will provoke heebie-jeebies in batsmen's stomach. The most threatening bowler I've ever seen in ten years. Bowlers like Akthar or Lee do bowl faster than Steyn but the imapct Steyn has is unbelievable. This man can just (and indeed has) run thorough the most powerful batting line-up in a single spell.

My dad has told me about bowlers like Joel Garner/Malcom Marshall but I've not seen them in action. I just have a feeling that they will be bowling something similar to steyn. There can't be any better aggression  one can exhibit than what this guy does. I stand up and Salute you Sir. You are truly, a remarkable cricketer. In an era where cricket is mainly dominated by batsmen, it is very good to see such a paceman preying on players who are considered invincible.

Watch this impressive spell where he knocks of stumps of the West Indians...

Reached there, remained there !

It's the Indian cricket team I am talking about. They reached the No.1 position in Test cricket and remained there throughout the year. Things could 've got worse had they lost the last test match of the year, thanks to Mr.Very Very Special Laxman's knock of 96 and his brilliant, match-winning partnership of 70 for the 8th wicket with Zaheer Khan.

Had there been a striking difference in the team's performance, it will be the batting contribution from  the Tail. I always moan over a SA or AUS Tail's partnership that go on and on against us. I use to wonder why Indian batsmen cannot do such a thing. It's TEN wickets, isn't it? Not FIVE. Everyone has to get out. It's not that your senior batsmen get out and you handover the next innings.

I rarely see such a thing from Indian batsmen. Once the senior batsmen are down, the rest will go down like a deck of cards. Even if you take the stats, none of the 6th or 7th or 10th wicket partnership record will be under India's name.

© Skysports

Things have changed recently. There are so many test matches where India was 5 down for just 50 odd runs, still came back and put up a very good show and won the game. Even Dhoni also agreed to this point. Though you have SIX regular batsmen in the team, it is always important that your tail tries it's best to score. Harbhajan Sings's back-to-back Hundreds made a huge difference in the result of the NewZealand series, and helped India seal the series as well as cement the position at #1.

But this year, the focus is going to be on the 2011 ODI World Cup...I am following this edition from 1999 and it's Australia all the way...They 've won the tournament for three times consecutively('99, '03, '07). But they lost most of their winning eleven. India enter the tournament as the favourites. Let's wait and see how it goes...33 more days to go :)

Whatever happens in the world cup, India should hopefully continue to dominate the test version. They 've won Australia in Australia, SA in SA. There is nothing else in the world where anyone have to prove their talent. Would like to see India winning England in England as they look formidable now, after regaining the Ashes.

Facebook shuts down on Mar 15?

This is the latest and hottest news on our planet. The world's second most visited website is going to shutdown in just 60 more days. Here is a news report quoted from weeklyworldnews.com.

PALO ALTO, CA –Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be shut down in March. Managing the site has become too stressful.
“Facebook has gotten out of control,” said Zuckerberg in a press conference outside his Palo Alto office, “and the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.”
Zuckerberg went on to explain that starting March 15th, users will no longer be able to access their Facebook accounts.
“After March 15th the whole website shuts down,” said Avrat Humarthi, Vice President of Technical Affairs at Facebook. “So if you ever want to see your pictures again, I recommend you take them off the internet. You won’t be able to get them back once Facebook goes out of business.”

And one single question I wanted to ask is, Are you kidding me? Who in heaven will shutdown such a multi-billion dollar business? I wouldn't be surprised if it touches Trillion mark within ten days. Whole world is immersed in FB and the business wolves will not let it happen. Millions of Android-powered phones are sold just because it ships in with a nice facebook app. Mobile marketing has taken a paradigmatic shift with the growing popularity of Facebook. Even if Zuckerberg does choose to leave it, would you think the world will stop social networking?

The next big battle will be for the one who will lead the road to fame by building the next facebook-like app. Rumors travel faster than light. This one just did. First best joke of 2011.

Dawn of the Debian

End of Microsoft's 12-year dominance has finally come, as I started using (learning infact) Ubuntu Linux for a while now. It's a DOS-based CAR-RACE game, which ignited my first ever fascination toward a computer. I was 12 then. Dad enrolled me in a computer institute. Manipal Institute of Computer education, if I recollect correctly. I am supposed to be taught MS DOS and OFFICE '97. I was given instructions on the basic DOS commands and I am supposed to try them out.

After I typed the CD command 600 times, and the COPYCON command, countless times, I got bored of seeing the black N white console and even got sick of seeing it as days progressed, until I found this CAR game. I completed the coursework and became a good friend of the instructor who allowed me to play the game for an hour every morning. My School was few blocks away, which allowed me easy access to the centre. After a head-start at 7 AM, I go to the centre, play the game till I hear the assembly bell in school at 8:45.

Stuck with Microsoft all these years. I learnt the Office packages, played more computer games, crossed high-school, graduated with an engineering degree in Computer Science.  I was never showed any other operating system than Microsoft, both in School and College. I am now enough matured to realize that I cannot survive with Microsoft alone. Definitely not that I hate Microsoft, but it's just that I want to learn Linux (and Unix too). As majority of the production applications are running in Non-Microsoft servers, I presume it makes sense to make myself get used to the shell environment :)