2008 April « The Constant Innovator

Downloading a SWF file from the web in FireFox

April 27, 2008, 11:23 am
Filed under: FlashFlex | Tags: download, firefox, Flash, SWF

(without using any other programs)

Had to download a SWF file from the net and started looking around for something that would do the trick. Thought that a general purpose downloader would be useful (like DAP – Download Accelerator Pro), but am averse to installing a program only for a single use.

Hunted around the net for something and found a video that describes a very convenient way to do so in FF…

It’s a video, but the steps are described below:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/765598/how_to_download_swf_files_using_firefox/

Load up the page which has the SWF on it.
Right click on the page somewhere so it shows “View Page Info” (NOTE: VIEW PAGE INFO) and select it.
Select the Media tab.
Select the row which says “Embed” under the Type column (that is most likely the one referencing the SWF file).
Select the “Save As…” button to save it on the hard disk.

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How to get your resume off Naukri.com?

April 27, 2008, 11:13 am
Filed under: BadDesign | Tags: Naukri, Naukri.com, remove, resume, unsubscribe

Not very surprisingly, but very unhelpfully, most sites make it extremely hard for you to unsubscribe or opt-out of their mailing lists. I had an old email account listed on Naukri and I occasionally get stupid notifications that “Your CV has been short-listed”… Ridiculous, if you consider that I have not even completed the profile properly.

So anyway, I tried looking at the email itself to see if there was a link that would let me opt out Naukri’s mailing list right away, but no no – not a chance. So, whats the way out? The email helpfully said at the end:

“If you consider the content of this email inappropriate or spam, you may:
1. Report abuse by forwarding this email to : abuse@naukri.com

2. Block this company – IndiaMART InterMESH Ltd (ref no: 18735) from accessing your resume by logging into your naukri account and selecting Block Company in the Privacy Settings section“

Well, neither of those links used any special codes to recognize my account, so I *had* to login in order to opt out…

So, I logged in, and then looked around for a way out.

Nothing. Not even a way to disable my profile (or deactivate it).

Finally had to write an email to Customer Help (location of online form is on top-right corner).

“Report a Problem“

Lets see if its effective.

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News report: B-School alumni shoot a 10-mt ‘virtual’ collaborative video

April 17, 2008, 3:00 pm
Filed under: Written works

News report in Mint (financial paper by HT Media) about a collaborative video shot by B-School alumni.

http://www.livemint.com/2007/12/19180948/BSchool-alumni-shoot-a-10mt.html

B-School alumni shoot a 10-mt ‘virtual’ collaborative video

Former ISB students come together in true Wiki style to create a 10-minute video that moves from Hyderabad to the US, across time zones, tracing their individual journeys

Livemint.com

New Delhi: You might have heard of ”Wikipedia”, but you might not have heard of a WikiVideo! A rather unusual group of ISB, IIM students and other professionals have gotten together from across the globe and created the world’s first “collaborative video”.

The seeds of this creative venture began in December last year when a handful of MBA students from the Indian School of Business met and conceptualized a ”Virtual Global Studio”, in which anyone could contribute and collaborate on ”creative ideas”. Immediately setting their plan in motion, they invited other equally inclined professionals discussing several ideas before finalizing on creating a video as their first project.

This short film focuses on the individual journeys of a group of students as they enter an MBA institute with different backgrounds and aspirations. The video narrates life as seen through the eyes of “Kris”, a 20-something, aspiring entrepreneur. While all of them go through the rigours of a demanding study programme, and the pressure of placements, the protagonist, Kris explores different possibilities, in search of his heartfelt “dream”.

Shot in both New York and Hyderabad, the movie makes use of special effects to engage the viewer. The video stands apart from other amateur creative works, not just because of its unique storyline, but because it was created in collaboration with many other people across the world, some of whom have never even met each other!

Unlike the traditional film-making style where the script is finalized months before production can even begin, the story of Sapney, in true Wiki style, was democratically decided while the shooting was in progress.

”Post-production and editing was a Herculean task. We had tonnes of video, and we had to filter through all of that to form one, single, final video which succinctly captures the essence of what we were trying to portray”, says Ashu Singhal, a software engineer at an MNC.

Adds Siddhant Bhansali, who directed part of the film, ”It was quite a challenge. Its not like any of us are trained filmmakers, we just shared a common vision – that this is a collaborative platform wherein any and all can give their inputs”.

The journey was far from smooth, as highlighted by a comment made by Girish, a management consultant, “This is more difficult than most people can imagine. Our entire team was located across the world, in different time zones. The only way for us to collaborate was to work virtually.”

The team took upon the challenge to create an “online studio” where script writing, music, cinematography, editing, and even direction was done, virtually over the web.

It took long hours of online IM (instant messaging) and voice chats to get the team to gain consensus on several issues at first, but as soon as the team mastered the art of online collaboration, it set a ball rolling that no one could stop. For many team members, it was a way to channelize their creativity outside of their mundane work lives.

For others, it was just a way of keeping in touch with and reliving the fun and excitement of doing group assignments at business school. “I got in touch with old friends, and made many new ones across the world, and loved working on this project!” says Mohit Garg.

While working on the music for the video, one of the team members, Anshul, rekindled his passion for music and launched his own rock band in Delhi, “Musafir”. The title song of their first album is called “Nishani”, which features as the background music for “Sapney”. This song was inspired by Anshul’s own experience at the ISB.

“The whole idea behind this was to demonstrate that it is possible to work across national boundaries, across time zones, on a creative project”, says Krishna Gopal, “and I think we proved that with Sapney!”

The young filmmakers and their work can be found online at: www.TeraMeraIdea.com

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Business Plan for Distributed Computing Corporation

April 17, 2008, 2:39 pm
Filed under: Written works

BADM 346: Entrepreneurship
Spring 2002 semester
University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign

Table of Contents
Executive Summary
1. The Company
2. Markets and Competition
3. The Product – The Service
4. Selling
5. Development
6. Financial Data
7. Investment
8. Appendices

Link to PDF

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Writing a Smartcard Application

April 17, 2008, 2:25 pm
Filed under: Written works

Written when part of Kritikal Solutions. A 20 page article on:

1. What is a Smart Card?
2. Why and where can we use a Smart Card?
3. Types of Smart Cards
4. Different types of Smart Card Interfaces
5. What is needed to build a Smart Card Application?
6. The Smart Card

The Directory Structure
SmartCard Authentication
Files on a SmartCard
PV Key file
Calculation Key file
File Permissions
File Creation

7. Building a Smart Card Application
8. File Structure for Sample Application
9. The PCSC_WRAPPER Class
10. PCSC_WRAPPER Macros
11. Code for writing to the SmartCard
12. Psuedo-code for “gate reader”
13. For further information/Resources

Link to PDF

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Study Abroad in JNU, India, Fall 2001 Semester

April 17, 2008, 1:04 pm
Filed under: Written works

Participated in a Study Abroad program while at University of Illinois (UIUC). Elected to study Political Science at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

This report was submitted for a fellowship at UIUC and became a permanent part of a repository of articles for use by subsequent generations of students.

Link to PDF

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IIT TechNews, 1997-1998

April 17, 2008, 1:00 pm
Filed under: Written works

TechNews (http://technews.iit.edu/) is the official newsletter for the IIT college (Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL.)

Coverage of inter-collegiate events, global news and reviews of silly/off-beat websites.

CollegeBowl: The varsity sport of the mind
World news
www.review

Link to PDF

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EXUN online, Volume 1.1, May 1997

April 17, 2008, 12:43 pm
Filed under: Written works

Started a student-run and managed computing journal within high school (DPS RKPuram, New Delhi). Remained as editor and contributed several articles to it. This is the first issue.