The Constant Innovator

Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 Schedule (in xls, xlsx format)

theconstantinnovator — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:05:41 +0000

My wife and I were interested in attending the Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 to be held between January 20th and January 24th.

To figure out what we were interested in, we copied the schedule onto an Excel sheet, so we could mark which program we were each interested in, and which both of us were interested in.

Sharing this so other people can find it useful as well. Note that this schedule was taken from http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/festival_program/ on 3-Jan-2012 @ ~ 10:00 PM IST.

Jaipur_Literature_Festival_2012 (XLS)

Jaipur_Literature_Festival_2012 (XLSX)

Changing IP address and DNS settings programmatically in Windows Vista

theconstantinnovator — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:22:42 +0000

(long post title, but it describes it perfectly)

Background: I’ve run into the situation where I have multiple IP/DNS “profiles” that I want to switch between on my laptop, and find it an enormous pain to go into Network Settings again and again. One of my colleagues had a bigger problem when his office IP settings did not work at all between his home and office.

Solution: This is a Batch file (.bat) meant for Windows Vista that allows you to select from different profiles and set IP and DNS settings accordingly. You will have to click on the User Account Control prompt and select Continue.

Setup

Copy the code below into a file: “IP-DNS-switch.bat”
Change the contents to fit your requirements. Do NOT blindly copy paste this and expect it to work. It will NOT!
Move the bat file into C:\Windows (not required to be there in particular, but it would be the safest location from accidental deletion)
Create a shortcut to this file on your Desktop
Edit the Properties of this shortcut and in Advanced, set “Run as administrator”

Notes

This is meant for Windows Vista. It won’t work anywhere else.
The settings are for your default wireless connection, you’ll need to modify the file appropriately if its anything else.
Again, the IP and DNS settings are meant for MY connection ONLY, you MUST modify these. Don’t even THINK of using them as it is.
To understand more about netsh, open up a Command Prompt in Windows Vista and type the following:

netsh int ipv4 set address /?
netsh int ipv4 set dnsserver /?
netsh int ipv4 add dnsserver /?

References

http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-13513-how-to-change-ip-address-from-command-prompt
Various sites on how to use the CHOICE and NETSH command
Windows Vista command prompt with the /? operator

The main code

@echo off
REM IP-DNS-switch.bat
REM Copyright(c) 2009 Siddhant Bhansali
REM VBScript to automatically switch between Home and Work IP and DNS configurations.
REM Pre-configuration:
REM 1. Change the IP and DNS settings to whatever is appropriate to your networks
REM 2. Copy this file to C:\windows so that it is not accidentally deleted
REM 3. Create a shortcut to it on the Desktop
REM 4. Right click and select properties of the shortcut
REM 5. In Advanced, set "Run as administrator"
REM 6. Save these settings and you're done!
REM --------------------------------------
echo.
echo Switch to which configuration?
echo.
echo [H]-Home (All IP and DNS settings set to Automatic)
echo [W]-Work (IP and DNS settings set to Work settings)
echo [E]-Exit (No change)
echo.
CHOICE /C:HWE

IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO END

IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO WORK

netsh int ipv4 set address "Wireless Network Connection" source=dhcp
netsh int ipv4 set dnsserver "Wireless Network Connection" source=dhcp
pause
goto END
:WORK
netsh int ipv4 set address "Wireless Network Connection" static 192.168.1.XX 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1 1
netsh int ipv4 set dnsserver "Wireless Network Connection" static 203.94.243.70 primary
netsh int ipv4 add dnsserver "Wireless Network Connection" 203.94.227.70
pause
:END

Fixing a Panasonic SDR-H21 with a shake

theconstantinnovator — Wed, 28 May 2008 05:37:36 +0000

Had borrowed a family friend’s digital camcorder, a Panasonic SDR-H21 and it recorded fine once or twice and then had a weird error wherein the lens / focus / zoom was completely unresponsive.

It was recording photos and videos, but the picture was at a fixed focus, and moving the thumb-tab to zoom in and out was completely unresponsive.

Tried a lot of things. Discharging the battery, reseting the camcorder, but nothing worked. The Panasonic website was collosally unhelpful (no support section, apparently nobody has any problems with this product, moreover the H21 model is not listed on their site). I talked to the family friend and we ran through the checklist again, but to no avail. Then, just as a joking aside, he suggested that I shake the camera. I did just that – shaking it from one end to another. Unexpectedly, the camcorder powered itself off.

I had to disconnect the battery to reset it, but when it did come back on, it was working fine!

Detailed notes:

After the first test run, when it worked fine, the battery was removed and left on the charger. After the green light went off, I plugged it back in and switched on the camera. The lens cover was not taken off and I tried moving the dials through the modes, but it didn’t switch from the video display mode. When it came onto the photo record mode, it still displayed the video display mode.
The camcorder was complaining a lot that it needed to reset itself when I was switching modes – which I did, but that didn’t help.

Outsourcing to India: Why, How and What?

theconstantinnovator — Tue, 20 May 2008 09:44:11 +0000

The following is an anonymized version of a set of presentations I created for helping a US based company decide whether to outsource part of its work to India or not. It examines why it makes sense, how the company can go about doing it and what resources are required at both ends (this part is not that comprehensive).

ABC US – Outsourcing to India

Overview
ABC US – Vision
Outsourcing – popular perceptions…
Outsourcing – changing perceptions…
What is outsourcing?
Types of offshoring
Outsourcing to India – Present reality
Why Outsource Work?
Why outsource (statistics)
Outsourcing – Clear Advantages
Who outsources work to India?
Some more…
Why should ABC US outsource?
What can ABC outsource right away?
Why India?
Offshore location: India offers the best package
Checklist for setting up in India

Link to PPT

ABC US – Setting up ABC India

Overview
What is the vision for ABC India?
Checklist for setting up in India
Why Gurgaon?
Why Jaipur?
Proposed structure of the Indian company
Critical assumptions / Financials
Comparing US and Indian developers
Challenges faced by firms outsourcing to India
US Manager responsibilities
Short Term Goals
Long Term Goals?
Information required from ABC US
Immediate next steps for a captive unit…
What will ABC India look like?

Link to PPT

ABC US – Infrastructure setup

Infrastructure setup
Server / Hardware requirements in India
Communication mechanisms

Link to PPT

Description of Nike’s Cricket in the traffic jam ad

theconstantinnovator — Tue, 20 May 2008 08:19:06 +0000

For an assignment in ISB’s “Marketing and Design Ethnography” course, we had to choose an ad to write about. I chose a Nike ad on TV (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpvuz8gg79Q) which featured ordinary folks playing cricket in a traffic jam. Here is the write-up for it (it is a description along with screen shots of key scenes – it is not the complete report).

Link to PDF

Tambola calling out names for numbers

theconstantinnovator — Sun, 11 May 2008 11:22:42 +0000

My sister recently organized a Tambola game (known as Bingo in other countries) for a large gathering of people. We looked online for a collection of names to call out for each number, but weren’t able to find any. So, she talked to one of our family friends and noted the names down in a document.

Link to Word Doc

Downloading a SWF file from the web in FireFox

theconstantinnovator — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:23:16 +0000

(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.

How to get your resume off Naukri.com?

theconstantinnovator — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:13:38 +0000

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.

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

theconstantinnovator — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:00:23 +0000

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

Business Plan for Distributed Computing Corporation

theconstantinnovator — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:39:58 +0000

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