Kim Dotcom and Kimi on the Nurburgring.

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A video uploaded on Youtube is proof that fat men are fun. Kim Dotcom, with $175 million and a lot of good cars visited the Nurburgring in January before he got arrested by the FBI for copyright issues related to Megaupload.com, which is, quite frankly silly. Everyone downloads 'copyrighted' stuff off the internet. Up-to and even, I'm willing to wager, Barrack Obama. So why arrest the guy who makes it all possible?

So in January, he, and I quote, "The production involved 30 cameras, 100+ crew, 2 helicopters, 2 camera cars and one fixed wing aircraft." to shoot a dream video of him racing around the Nurburgring with his mate Finn Batato, and Kimi Raikkonen with three(!) modified Mercedes Benz AMG CLK DTM's. The CLK DTM's are rare and reportedly only 200 or so were made. The modification is what appears to be nitrous injection. So a 582bhp 'standard' CLK DTM with nitrous injection. And rear wheel drive. With tires that look suspiciously thin. Around the Nurburgring. Yeah, you definitely need F1 drivers to handle that. But then Kim is a "street racing legend".

Kim wanted "I used to play Forza and Need for Speed on Xbox Live. Those games inspired me to create a video that looks like the replay of a perfect lap on the Ring. I know it isn't perfect, but I tried." and he has somewhat achieved that videography. It's an epic video and is a perfect example of what rich men should do with their money and free time. This video was made for only for the fun in making it. "I DID NOT WIN against Kimi. I never could. We had to remove the air from his tires to keep up. And even then it was impossible :-)" He was just mucking about, having a good time, and in the end he even got a great video out of it! This is exactly what Bruce Wayne should be doing instead of pretending to be a superhero. The cars were named "GOOD"[Kimi Raikkonen], "AND"[Finn Batato], and "EVIL"[Kim Dotcom]! Ha! Kim even calls himself a 'street racing legend'. Whether its true or not, I have no idea, but he sure is a 'playboy legend'. The video wasn't even the final edit! The final edit is on the hands of the FBI. This video is a testament to the CLK DTM and the Nurburgring, but most important of all, it proves that Kim Dotcom sure as hell knows how to have fun!

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Flipp Chrome

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I created a Google Chrome extension that allows you to horizontally flip or mirror all HTML5 videos on a web page. Apparently this is good if you're dancer and you want to learn some dance moves.

But I think it'll be a lot more useful if you're sick of watching mirrored videos on Youtube. Flipp simply flips the videos back to the original format, and you can watch it normally. So this is a pretty good tool to watch that Top Gear episode on Youtube without having to suffer the mirroring. Also its also good way to have a laugh. Watching any video mirrored gives an entirely new feel to it.

To install this extension, simply download the file and open it. It only works on Google Chrome. I'll try and make a similar extension for Safari and Firefox as well.

Safari Extension for Flipp: Flipp Safari




To use this extension, goto settings on Youtube, and turn HTML5 video mode on. Only then will Flipp work. Link for Youtube HTML5 activation : http://www.youtube.com/html5

Download it here : Mediafire Link

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Nokia E7

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A while back, I had a bit of a moment when I ranted on about how flawed the E7 was. However, with the new Symbian Belle update, it's a lot better now. Finally, it starts to make a lot more sense. However, rumors are abound that the next Symbian update, Carla might not make it to the E7, as it doesn't have enough firepower to handle it. Or more likely, a lite version of Carla will be available for the E7. And this is pretty monumentous news, as the Carla update is a big overhaul and it refreshes Symbian^3 altogether.

This is all a bit mysterious. Either Nokia's product management team screwed up, or the rate at which the smartphone market grew messed up Nokias' product strategy. The Nokia N8, and the E7, flagship devices of the Symbian range are too old and weak to support a Symbian^3 upgrade that even models much lower in the hierarchy such as the 701(which have better(4x)processing power) to support. The 701 can even support Windows Phone 7 or Android 4.0, if it comes to that.

Nokia E7 with Symbian Belle

However, Nokia has specifically listed the flagship devices as N8-00, and E7-00. So there might be future models based, if we are to believe the nomenclature followed by the other phones in the Nokia family. Hopefully the N8-01, or E7-01 might just bring Nokia up to speed in the smartphone war.

Windows Phone 7

I honestly do not consider the Windows Phone 7 OS to be any better than Symbian^3. The Windows interface is too cluttered and it is frustrating when scrolling through the menues. It is a great idea to have the 'tiles', but they haven't thought the idea through. It is counter-productive, and it is an eyesore with all those tiles and idiotic contrast, and the colour scheme is awful as well. God help you if want to navigate through the menues and pull up something. It's a bloody maze. Although, technically it is a better platform than Symbian, but Symbian with its user friendly interface and properly segmented menues and its well chosen colours makes it so much nice to use. Android is downright boring, but productive. And yes, iOS is still the best mobile OS out there. The iPhone 4 used a 680+(upper limit is supposedly 780Mhz or so) Mhz processor with average RAM. Similar specs to the E7. But there's a huge chasm in the user experiences of both the mobiles. The iPhone is a class apart, and the E7 lags behind. iOS, with its fantastically structured menues, and inherent intuitiveness of the OS and it's fantastic display feels so fluid(very efficient) and effortless compared to the halty, and jerky Symbian^3. iOS is extremely efficient, and I highly doubt Android which is nothing more than an open-source clone of it, will ever catch up. Windows 7 is just hopeless. Nokia needs to develop a new OS with ARM(instead if Intel) and get its best designers on the job. Something along the lines of MeeGo, and possibly even better. MeeGo was the only OS that got close to iOS.

Apple iPhone 4

Good luck and Godspeed Nokia.

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Overtaking in racing; hatke style.

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Racing in essence, is all about overtaking the guy ahead of you. And some pit-stop strategy. With a dash of technical wizardry. Like the F-duct on the Mercedes F1 2012 car. Well played.

However, after some lemonade and light thinking, I hit upon two new ways to overtake.





For the DTM drivers. Especially for those guys who have exhausts on the side of the car. DTM cars run V8's which heavily tuned and undergo a lot of stress. Often the engines de-stress by throwing out a bit of fire from the exhausts, on a trailing throttle or a sudden downshift. Actually it is quite a lot of fire. So why don't the cars with exhausts on the side, instead of having them at the back of the car, burn the flipping tyres of their opponents right off? I think it's quite possible if you're persistent. With good planning I think it's possible to set fire to those super-soft tyres in a few laps or so?

Fire!!!

Flamethrower.

Right. Now F1. Why can't the teams have alliances and stuff. Like, for example, "lets all screw Schumacher or some other poor sod everyone happens to hate at that moment" by overtaking him with planned teamwork. Like, a back marker such as Massa, and a front runner like Sergio Perez, or Kimi Raikkonen can overtake, let's say Webber by blocking him on the left and the right on the pit straight and then shutting the door on him before the first corner. Drivers should have the capability to radio each other mid race, plan their moves and overtake other drivers. There will be copiously epic amounts of overtaking, and not only because of the DRS activation nonsense which is extremely partial to the front runners. Seeing Narain Karthikeyan pulling a move on Vettel would be epic, and there'd just be so much unpredictability in the racing. There wouldn't be any Rosberg style pole-to-victory nonsense like in China anymore. Creativity and drifting will you earn you extra points. Of course, for proper racing fans there could be a ban on this stuff, say in circuits such as Spa and Monza. But nearly everywhere else, Kobayashi could very well get more points than the race winner even if he finishes outside the top 10 because of his drifting.

Something like this. Massa shutting the door on Webber while Alonso takes advantage. There could be inter-team overtaking as well.

What say Bernie? 

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Mac Virus

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Ok, this isn’t exactly a real Mac virus. But it’s a good way too prank your friends(or foes!). With the help of AppleScript you can instruct the Mac to perform several tasks. Although Applescript is generally used for boring stuff like sending bulk mails or doing something productive, it can also be extremely fun if you have a devious plan in mind!

Open AppleScript Editor.

Open AppleScript Editor

This is where you write the code.

 

AppleScript Editor

Type in,

say “Warning! Virus Alert!” using “Vicki”

Voice command

Mac will now issue a ‘warning’ and say whatever you type in using the voice Vicki, who is [I think!] spanish. Hmm....


Now,

display dialog “Virus Alert! Mac has detected a virus.” buttons {“OK”} default button 1

Dialog Command

Mac will now display a dialog with the warning.

Prompt

now type,

tell application "Finder"
shut down
end tell

Shut Down command

Mac will now shutdown!

Click Compile, and then save it as an Application.
Don’t click Run! Or your Mac will shut down!

Save

Save as Application

Now change the logo of the application, or do whatever but get your nemesis to open the application and face your wrath!

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processing sketch : transparent circles

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I made this using processing. Ok, this isn't really processing per se, but it is processing.js. Both use the same coding just that processing.js is a lighter and more efficient way to display your processing sketches on a web page. In this simple sketch circles of varying opacity are drawn on the screen and the position of the circles are determined by the position of your mouse. The colour and the opacity are random. To clear the screen and to start again, press the key 'C'.

The code is given below. I have explained some lines of code so you understand what I have created.

void setup() //method to initialize the sketch. Only runs 1 time.
{
  size(600, 600); //determines size of sketch
  background(255); //background colour
  smooth(); //smoothens everything out
}
void draw() //method to draw on sketch. Runs every time till program is stopped.
{
  noStroke(); //circles don't have an outline
  float x = random(20, 60); // random size with limits from 20 to 60
  ellipse(mouseX, mouseY, x, x); // circles with position determined by mouse
  fill(random(200), random(200), random(255), random(100)); // random colour and opacity
  if (keyPressed) //detects if a key is pressed
  {
    if (key=='c'||key=='C') //now looks for key 'c'
    {
      background(255); //clears screen
    }
  }
}

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Processing

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Have you ever fantasized about being a computer programmer and create stuff simply by typing a few commands? Yet, like me, you hate the complexity and the learning curve of the Java, C++ and the rest? Fear not, for processing is here!

Processing is Java based compiler which requires basic Java coding know-how to create insanely cool graphics within minutes of downloading the compiler. It's extremely simple to learn processing, and with a few months of solid practice you can create anything you want with a few lines of code. Sounds too good to be true right? However, apart from a few minor problems with some geeky stuff which won't bother you anyway, it is fantastic. You can do 3D modeling on it as well!

So download processing and code away!


Here are a few examples,

Tree using recursion

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