What Is Google App Engine?

Google App Engine lets you run your web applications on Google's infrastructure. App Engine applications are easy to build, easy to maintain, and easy to scale as your traffic and data storage needs grow. With App Engine, there are no servers to maintain: You just upload your application, and it's ready to serve your users.

You can serve your app from your own domain name (such as http://www.example.com/) using Google Apps. Or, you can serve your app using a free name on the appspot.com domain. You can share your application with the world, or limit access to members of your organization.

Google App Engine supports apps written in several programming languages. With App Engine's Java runtime environment, you can build your app using standard Java technologies, including the JVM, Java servlets, and the Java programming language—or any other language using a JVM-based interpreter or compiler, such as JavaScript or Ruby. App Engine also features a dedicated Python runtime environment, which includes a fast Python interpreter and the Python standard library. The Java and Python runtime environments are built to ensure that your application runs quickly, securely, and without interference from other apps on the system.

App Engine costs nothing to get started. All applications can use up to 500 MB of storage and enough CPU and bandwidth to support an efficient app serving around 5 million page views a month, absolutely free. When you enable billing for your application, your free limits are raised, and you only pay for resources you use above the free levels.

Source: http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/whatisgoogleappengine.html

Me: I think I want to explore the Google API and work on it. Lets see! :)
Now I’m all excited about my posting. HRD says they’ll convey that to us by tomorrow 5PM.
It’d be a brand new experience for sure! :) Wish me luck.

Currently: Not studying for my Comprehensive Perception (multiple-choice) exam scheduled for tomorrow and instead of that doing TP… with Google and its apps. Google Groups… Google Labs SMS Channel.. Google Notebook.. Picasa… Google Docs… and what not and now… http://goo.gl. Google is a complete package.

So, Who all want to marry Google raise your hand(s)! <<profound pun>> LOL!

THE KNOL-EDGE survived

Now!! You can See TheKNOL online as well! (thanks to Google Docs!)

Google Defines KNOL as: (source: http://knol.google.com)

Knol - a unit of knowledge: share what you know, publish your expertise.

(So if you have Knowledge You have an Edge: I hope the Subject line makes more sense now)

Ya, we liked the name and you already know.. how big Plagiarists we all are (and so here goes the story)…

KNOL is a monthly (apparently not.. but we like calling it that).. online… informal… free… (and of course awesome) eMagazine (Zine) of our (engineering college) College of Engineering, Roorkee! COER (http://coe-roorkee.com)!

Powered by :D us… and Driven by a subset! <think it over>

We all took this delicious initiative (when we were in our Engineering 4^th year… and were SuperVella) to bring together an informal platform for people to interact and with a added little jazz to it :-) <think: Designing>

So we are not at the college anymore.. but still remembering those days always bring smiles to our faces. What follows is a Full Tour (A Walkthrough) of the Mag (from the notices to the actual manifestation). Hope you’d like its Appeal Etc and observe it evolve! Do post back comments(and/or your KNOL**) to me / theknol.digest@gmail.com (CC) ! J It’ll keep this thing Going. So Sit back and relax… but if you can’t.. just come back at a later time.

You can view the complete editions online only or if you may want to download them as PDF… :-) Do that!

Editions:

THEKNOL1.0
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-zsaXJ6N6oIYThlN2FiMDQtNGEzNy00YmM5LTlmNWUtZjRmZjUzMjIxODk0&hl=en

THEKNOL2.0
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-zsaXJ6N6oIMGVhMmE1YWItNGI4YS00OThhLThhMTctODE1NTNhZjAxMzdh&hl=en

THEKNOL3.0LT
(small)
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-zsaXJ6N6oIZmVlYjRkNWMtNmQ3ZC00OGE3LThiMGEtODg3NGJhZWEwYTQ0&hl=en

(Big: Clear Images)
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-zsaXJ6N6oIOTU4ZmY2MGQtMmU1Ny00MDY1LTg2YjktM2NiMzIxZTE5NGVm&hl=en

My Juniors in college are still working.. on it you see! :-)
They are now also working on Yearbook’10 (just like we created Yearbook’09 for us) for the current 4^th year batch!

Notices:
This was the first ever notice that told people about KNOL.
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-zsaXJ6N6oIZGFmMTNjNzctMjFlMC00YmNlLTliZGYtMGQzZDc5M2VmOGI4&hl=en
The Second Notice.. more illustrative! :P yet confusing… :-)
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-zsaXJ6N6oIZTA1NGU5NTEtZGMyOC00YTYxLTkxM2MtMmQ2NWMzYTQ4MDMy&hl=en
And the magazine came…! The first ever issue :-)
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-zsaXJ6N6oINDc0YTZlNjMtZGViMS00YmUyLTkyNTgtOGIyYzk5MmMzZDVi&hl=en
This is for the Third Issue. My Juniors worked on it.
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-zsaXJ6N6oIYTYwODYxOWEtNDYzZC00ZDI1LWE0OTctYTlkZDExNzZhNjdj&hl=en

** Dear Alumnus, you are invited (to be part of the next edition.. and) to share with the world.. the knowledge you possess… YOUR thoughts… be it anything or nothing. :-) Do attach a recent picture of yours along… and of course we’d be glad to know :-) what you’ve been upto.

PS: Feel Free to Forward it to anyone who knows you… the college… or just probably.. to flaunt (like I did).

Nikunj Lahoti
System Engineer
Infosys Technologies Limited

Article Source: http://mrdigerati.blogspot.com
Official Blog: http://theknol.blogspot.com

The KNOL 3.0

THE KNOL 3.0 LTS <as Anshul Calls it> is not out and people are giving reviews.

Not many people are left in the KNOL TEAM but still they managed to get this thing out… and kept the WebZine running is laudable. Well I’m yet to congratulate everyone personally. But very soon I’ll do that. :-) Great work. Finally a KNOL that has no contribution from my side. :-) Feels funny though!

You can download it here: (6MB)
http://theknol.googlegroups.com/web/KNOL_3.0_LTS_.pdf?gda=K9OEP0MAAACsefPAJvUwZ1VIWBiEjBPlCRQhP3o2gkdfY0MSTdl-jVREcrzLWup3dRr3uC1zTa4ytiJ-HdGYYcPi_09pl8N7FWLveOaWjzbYnpnkpmxcWg

My Message to the team: :-) Keep it coming.

TLS

Well… TLS is a document that is being created :-) and people are collaborating to that!
Good thing! :-)
This document once created should be given a Hard-Bound attribute and should be given back to the collaborators for cherishing it throughout their life :-)
We should totally do things like these all our lives. It's so much fun. Reading it some years down the line.. will be rewarding…Truly.

Btw: we are just left with partially 09! :-) Rest all Documented.
Have a lot of fun folks.

PS: I'm going to start reading TWILIGHT soon! :-) <I've a very bad reputation when it comes to completing a book>.
Wish me Luck!

The rise of the Machines ;)

So.. I'm now using this very fundu thing from my Infosys Terminal.. (not so very fundu.. although)....!!
Btw... We cannot access http://blogger.com here. So its a good thing Right? :D
I still can make myself availble for you. Man!! I'm Kind. ;)

The Knol

Google says Knol is a unit of knowledge.
So why are we talking about it now....!!? Well that's because that's the name we've given to an informal initiative we've undertaken. Our brainchild "Knol" is an online (pdf.. ebook) magazine for the college. Here's the platform where we all send our contributions every month and finally a beautiful thing comes out.

November issue is out. You can take a look at it and give us that valuable feedback of yours.
Thanks.

theknol.digest@blogspot.com
direct-link to see it here or here.

This Nokia Series 40 (s40) phone I bought about a month ago has proved my intuitions right in buying it. Its not that I didn't do any research prior to investing 12Gs (grands), but the stuff one can only feel after exploring & exploiting the device to one's own will & whim.. is an incredible sign of awesomeness. (yeah!! the word you're looking for is “whacky articulation”)
[Series 40 is an operating system made by Nokia. Its an embedded software platform, Java based. Series 60 is multitasking Symbian based thing]

So I had this Java(TM) Nokia 3120 earlier and migration to my new Phone has been a piece of cake for most of the thing (moving contacts to SIM card from N3120 & then moving to N5610.. 250 at a time for like 4-5 times & then they show up like nikunjla1, nikunjla2... nikunjla5. Holy Crap!!) except the calendar (you have to manually feed the birthday reminders or any morning gonna be your last!! Lol I still have to input 'em for the first 9months. [seriously, no pun.. or punch.. INTENDED here!]).

Uses internal phone memory of 30MB.

Camera.
Nokia 5610 is one of the best shooters among the series 40 devices.
3.2 megapixel Camera has a variety of modes.
-Video
-Portrait Mode
-Night Mode (works when flash is off)
-Dual-two-LED-Flash (on : off : automatic)
-self-timer (Now the guy who own the phone can be seen in pictures) [3 : 5 : 10 seconds] – Makes sweet sounds every second.
-Image-sequence
-tinker with the While-balance & Brightness.
-Add effects like sepia.. grayscale.. b&w etc.
-Settings

• image quality, image-size (1536 X 2048 to 120 X 160)
• video-clip-length can be made maximum (depending upon your card's free space)
• 4 video resolution modes (640 X 480 to 128 X 96)
• 8x digital Zoom.

Bluetooth.
Its is good and works great. Internal Phone memory of 30MB can be utilized to transfer bulky files via-bluetooth.
It shows progress of sending as percentage when sending a single file and number of items sent while sending multiple items.
Infrared is unavailable.

Internet.
Opera mini is preloaded.
You can even use the default browser which is good.

Multimedia.
5610 enjoys a AIC33/DAC33 chip. It can play music around 20-22 hrs with normal usage. Offers inbuilt support for a variety of audio formats like aac, m4a, wma and mp3.
Videos can be played in mobile optimized formats like 3GP and MP4.

Inbuilt Flash Lite support.
you can make flash applications... swf (shockwave flash).. your wallpapers or screensavers.
How about a drizzle on your desktop! Cool. Isn't it?
You can even make applications to monitor battery or time etc.

Good Java ME support for developers.
supports Java MIDlets, i.e. Java MIDP and CLDC technology.
(I use a free dictionary made by some Maharashtrian[don't get me wrong its no way racial segregation & I'm not a chauvinist]. A Java-archive [JAR file])

A lot of games (But I don't play any... People say they are good. “City Bloxx”.. “Rally 3D”.. “Snake III”... etc)

Sensor (A bluetooth application)... to socialize and make new friends (transfer stuff).

Processor speed is around 234MHz (benchmark) and around 5 MB RAM.
Series40 uses a simpler operating system than the higher end s60 (which is based on the multi-tasking Symbian OS). Because s40 devices do not support true multitasking and do not have a native code API for third parties, its user interface appears to be more responsive and faster than other Nokia platforms.

The catch...
a) you can set any video (playable) as your video ringing tune.
b) you can set different tunes & images for different contacts.


Enhancements:
Thin-pin Charger requires around 1.5hrs to completely charge 3.7V BP-5M Battery.
Battery Backup... 1 -2 days on heavy usage. Minimal usage: 2-4 days.
3.2mm AV-jack (headset). It has a connector to 3.5mm jack (where Computer speakers can also be connected. So no need to open your laptop to hear your playlist)
microUSB slot to transfer stuff to and from the computer seamlessly via USB connector.
microSD (Multimedia Card) expandable upto 4Gigs (GB).

Well finally when I'm with this beautiful thing (which it actually is... Slider.. blue... and Lights!!Sexy... Aaah!! Reminds me of... hmm... wait-for-it... Mirror!!) & having a good time with a 1GB microSD & the microUSB. Well talking about Stuff..........

a) You can play 3GP & MP4 movies in all sizes (QCIF, QVGA) up to this maximum resolution VGA 640X480. (Trust me! You won't need anything more than that for even HDTV viewing).
& all that inside its inbuilt player - “Media Player”. No white bars on side... in full screen view. Video occupies full window.

I've two videos...(allow me to call them Movies...) full blown 80 -90 minutes in 60-70 MB.
“The Secret” & “D5 conference Bill Gates n Steven Paul Jobs”... 3GP (176 X 144 resolution and clear picture). With this incredible[right.. I really love this word.] ability to seek forward quickly to catch up from an earlier time of viewing.
How to do that....!! Well convert any possible media stream inside your computer to 3GP or MP4 through a FREE converter. Just google. I use...

ABC 3GP converter (a3gpset)... [Free] along with...
Avidemux (Klite Video Converter).. [FOSS = Free and Open Source Software]
VCD Cutter 4.0 (Jaio System Ltd.) [Cracked] – (to convert VCD files [.DAT] to MPG)
using Nokia PC SUITE is recommended. It converts them to the best possible format for your handset (You can decide the size or the quality).

b) Offline HTML pages saved through Firefox (web browser).. copied to the phone.. open seamlessly with even Images. Navigation is a hell lot easier. Nokia Series 40 phones now use this Open Source software WebKit (components WebCore and JavaScriptCore) to have support for XHTML.. HTML 4.01.. Javascript1.5.. CSS2 and even AJAX. Kewl indeed.
(Think: you can research on your computer & review it on your phone)

c) I also plan to read some books... (Nay!! Not curriculum) Like Novels.. or self-help-books.
To name a few.. I've started reading..
The Monk who sold his Ferrari (Robin S. Sharma)
Who'll cry when you die (Robin S. Sharma)
State of Fear (Micheal Crichton)
Deception Point (Dan Brown)
The Tao of Physics ( Carpa)
Psycho cybernetics (.... hmm!! can't remember this one. Some plasic surgeon)

okay.. so this shows I start reading and then seldom [get time to] complete. So as for light reading.. I've saved a few ebooks (in TEXT format) inside my mobile too.
the power of concentration
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.

But there was this problem.. It can only read upto 3000 characters and truncates the rest of the text because, it has an Organizer -> Notes Application which can save upto 3000 characters in a note at a time. [My sister's CDMA Nokia has just 300 Characters limit. How Sad!!]
So what I did was I created a command line application in Java to split my text into Crumbs of size my phone allows me to read. (Find that TextSplitter somewhere here).
Now the “Zen” folder has 286 text files numbered 1 to 286. How awesome is that!!!
To ignore the downside.. you can start reading from 1 & keep removing text as you read it. & “copy to Notes” stuff (beautiful thoughts) you want to keep with you.
(Think about an SMS-maniac who keeps a note book [buys books too] to forward messages. He can just copy paste)
Talking of which... Copying Text... & pasting in some other application is entirely handy with option explicitly given. You can mark-text or mark-all.
Talking of which, selecting files.. Marking files (or all files) is also very easy. You can then send these files via Bluetooth... or delete them.. move them... et al.

d) Backup messages.. phone contacts... calendar records.. bookmarks.. user pictures.. memory card's content.. etc. Using NBU (Nokia Backup). You can restore these on account of a phone theft (Take out a minute. Its time to pray to God!!)... or Phone Migration.

e) You can even send messages from your Computer (through the phone obviously via the USB cable)

f) This phone can act like a Modem and you can use GPRS.. or EDGE (Mobile Office) to connect. Use Internet anywhere. Well this time you have an actual keyboard.

g) Transfer music & videos to-n-from phone. Conversion to mobile-optimized audio and video formats is possible.

h) There is some protected mobile content in the memory card which cannot be played without correct access codes. You can we even then extract some content using this method.
- in your computer select any mp4 file and default it to open with KMPlayer.
- now connect mobile via USB in PC-SUITE mode.
- browse and open. The content shows up in your player.
- Now right click on it. Look for an option of Save-As-Video and you are done.
- otherwise you can even capture the video. [KMPlayer is good.]


Problems Fixed...
a) mine is V4.81 (type *#0000# to see it). Earlier versions had this problem to freeze when you receive an SMS while listening to some tracks.
b) .... gotta research more to fill this further... but hey (a) is substantial.
Well you can always update your mobile software yourself through PC-SUITE.. go to “nokia-europe” website. Look for the software updates made to your handset's model. Download & apply. You are done! The problem is Fixed. Life is easy AGAIN.

Downside....
a) it gets creepy... shows distortion for a second or two (in a day or two) & sometimes even gets restarted after a creepy deep humming (once in a day while talking.. depending upon its mood & climate)
b) microUSB cannot be used to charge the mobile phone via USB slot unlike miniUSB.
c) pictures featuring me (not under daylight) are just devilish with two giant Red-Eyes when flash is on.
d) the back-battery cover gives me this feeling that it has a short life expectancy.
e) The devices themselves are locked down so that you cannot replace the factory-installed OS. So I (or even YOU) cannot install Linux inside it.
This is really really Sad. But if you have 22,000/- in your account go to OpenMoko Project “http://openmoko.org” & get freerunner. & Linux is there in Nokia 770 too & some Motorola models.

have a lot of fun.

every movie has a story...

Every character in a movie you watch reminds you of somebody.
It can be the distinguishing feature... or the style of talking.. or the crap that comes out.
but what the heck... why am I writing all this....
:-/ time to sleep maybe.

read xml thru java

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
import javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException;

import org.w3c.dom.Document;
import org.w3c.dom.Element;
import org.w3c.dom.Node;
import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;
import org.xml.sax.SAXException;

public class XMLViewer {
public static void main(String[] args) {

try {
Document doc = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance().newDocumentBuilder().parse(new File("c:/MyXMLFile.xml"));
doc.getDocumentElement().normalize();

traverseDFS(doc.getChildNodes());

} catch (SAXException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (ParserConfigurationException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}

}

public static void traverseDFS(NodeList nodeList) {

int lenNodes = nodeList.getLength();

for (int i = 0; i < lenNodes; i++)
{
if (nodeList.item(i).hasChildNodes()) {
System.out.println(nodeList.item(i).getNodeName());
traverseDFS(nodeList.item(i).getChildNodes());
}
else
{
if (! nodeList.item(i).getNodeValue().trim().equals("")) {
System.out.println("Value is : " + nodeList.item(i).getNodeValue());
}
}
}
}
}

Trip to mussorrie...

From d-mussorrie-trip

well... it was just amazing... finally.. on our own.. & hey.. we survived!
;)
this map can make all the difference! Plan yr trip asap.

mind... a mystery!!

why do we get lost contemplating?
the view gets blurred!!
which we realize when we get back from the thought process.
Does that mean we can't multitask!! or this aspect has just not evolved the better way.

Dreams!!.. y are they bizarre?`

sometimes I remember a little.. sometimes not at all... other times.. it just vanishes after a shower..

spoilers!!.. d fun dwindles...

teasers... spoilers.... movie.... the suspense mystery is dying...
We even know most of the dialogs & whole of the story.
The fun & sudden experience... with SRK in special appearance in a movie like Saathiya... its just gone.
Think google now... its publicity was mostly done.. by the "word of mouth"!

makers of our destiny...

are we truly... makers!!
or its just that.. we meet ours! :-/

why Linux?

there are just too many reasons... :-)
beyond... opensource... free.. et al.....

the incredible multi-threading...

That's our mind indeed... after studying & analyzing A.I. as our course in this semester, I realized how powerful our mental institution is. Our species is the only one in this world which can achieve meta-cognition, that's thinking about what you are thinking. Animals can't do that. & then there are dreams... how can we actually construct our surroundings so beautifully, adding characters to it... who can actually talk... react.. that too in a sober way. Everything is going inside our mind.. we are building it... & then on the run time actually watching it progressing & somewhere deep inside affecting the characters we think we can control. Its just amazing.. isn't it?

openSUSE 10.2 -- Itz Rocking!

Thanks to the mighty wi-fi internet connection here @ my college, with download speed touching even 300Kbps at times, I can now discover things beyond Microsoft products. I did some research about products & resources; then chucked DAP to switch over to IDM (Internet Download Manger) because its free & can auto resume your broken download. Using the same I downloaded a lot of movies & videos along with Solaris 10 & openSUSE 10.2 (a sexy flavor of LINUX).
Initially I opted for a SUSE DVD but some how it got corrupted during the download process. It was only then I got to know about md5 checksums & Nero md5 verifier.
There after it was all serene!

Finally life is good working on SUSE. It has got great UI (User Interface) & is highly customizable.
For the very first time I saw my machine didn't freeze after plugging in the USB 2.0 device (I have also used Redhat 9 & FedoraCore 1 before).





Snapshot in KDE.

KDE & GNOME are the two main Desktop Environments in Linux.

How to download??.
a) Go to the link http://en.opensuse.org/Released_Version.

b) Select the architecture of the computer in which you want to install openSUSE 10.2. Eg. select x86 (i386) for Pentium & AMD processors.

c) Installation media can be a DVD or 6 CDs. Only 3 base CDs are needed for default installation. Packages can be added or removed by the administrator (root) after the OS gets installed (my DVD didn't work so I had revert to CDs).

d) Choose installation protocol. Torrents is the best option. HTTP or FTP will require you to verify download through md5 checksums.

MD5(Message Digest 5) is a standard algorithm that takes as input a message of arbitrary length and produces as output a 128-bit fingerprint or message digest of the input. Any modifications made to the message in transit can then be detected by recalculating the digest.

So if the md5 of the downloaded media doesn't match with the original media the image is useless. Chuck it. & download again.

e) Start downloading the ISO image & then burn it to the disc.


Installation.
SUSE requires the default ext3 Linux file system. So, If you are a Windows user or planning to have a multi-boot environment (just like I did), delete one or two logical drives through windows default management console.
Otherwise SUSE is intelligent enough to determine to installation path & destination itself.

Now restart your computer & Boot through the media to start the installation of openSUSE 10.2.

Packages can be customized at a later stage.

The only thing of concern is your data stored on other drives. So if you are novice in this field ask for a supervision. You have two options here 1) Manually partition or 2)Automatic - it will give you the best possible quotation.

Basic requirements are one (/) root for installation and one SWAP (virtual memory) partition to boost up performance.

Installation of Package.
Packages come either in tar.gz (compressed), RPM (Packaged), YUM(express installation) source. YaST, the house keeper, opens the RPMs by default & installs them. The tar.gz files need to be extracted to a location & then installation is done on the basis of INSTALL text file provided inside it. Default operations include...
a) to configure the package(the system variable given values & dependencies are checked).
b) make (the package is compiled using the previous step's configuration)
c) make install (actual installation to system folders is done here)

Plugins & Codecs.
VLC has some dependencies problem so I will recommend xVidCore or libDvdCss.
So you would be able to play each and every other media file format (presentation).

Wi-fi (Wireless Fidelity) Support.
If you use a Laptop then things are easier as SUSE might itself recognize your device but if it doesn't you need to get Drivers of your device for Linux. What! you can't find 'em? No problem, ndiswrapper comes to rescue. You can wrap or parse your Windows XP drivers into Native code so that they support Linux too.

WINE (Wine Is Not Emulator).
People now a days are not much of a IE (Internet Explorer) freak as they have other good options like Firefox & Opera. But if you want IE on Linux (that's absurd trust me) or any game that the Wine Project supports, you can run them on Linux through Wine. In SUSE it comes prebundled. Wine provides Windows environment for applications to run.

So the USP.
1) Its free.. :) highly customizable & Stable.

2) supports USB devices (Stability reinforced).

3) got support for wi-fi Ethernet controllers.

4) all the Windows' drives get mounted on the startup. So the files on your NTFS drive are no longer useless while working on SUSE.

5) Firefox 2.0 Java 1.5 & Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 comes prepackaged.

6) GIMP is the Photoshop of Linux.

7) Install some libraries & codecs to get all your mp3, flv & vob (DVD) files running without a glitch.

8) User guides in pdf format are handy on the site with complete documentation & administration guide.

So in all its a complete replacement for Windows but if you are a gaming freak then you would have to go for a Dual boot. Cheers!

Any query is invited.