Book Review of 'The lost symbol'

The Lost Symbol

After the 'mega' success of "The Da Vinci Code", the expectations on Dan Brown's latest flick 'The Lost Symbol' were really high. But, Dan Brown had failed to keep up the expectations.

Characters:

Robert Langdon, Peter Solomon, Katherine Solomon, Zachary Solomon, Sato, Trish and on...

Review:

The story is about Freemasonry, their rituals and their secrets. When Robert Langdon's character entertains us in 'Angels & Demons' as well as ' The Da Vinci Code', here the character has really failed to capitalize reader's hearts.

Plot:

Robert Langdon is invited to deliver a guest lecture at Capitol Building by his mentor Peter Solomon. Later, he realizes that someone had kidnapped Peter Solomon and in order to save Peter's life, Robert Langdon accepts the invitation and promises to help the suspect who kidnapped Peter.The rest of the story is about solving the riddles that will reveal a secret location.

Pros:

1. Dan Brown's characterization of Zach Solomon

2. Riddles

3. 'Brown'ian way of expressing things

Corns:

1. Robert Langdon doesn't have star cast in this novel. He is learning here but not solving much of the riddles.

2. There is no big twists unlike Dan Brown's other creation. Few of the twists (especially the climax) seem so predictable.

3. Whenever there is lot of expectation after a big hit, the responsibility for author is too much. Meeting the expectation beyond par is not easy.

Suggestions:

If you have not read any of Dan Brown books, go for 'Angels & Demons' or 'The Da Vinci Code' or 'Digital Fortress'. If you are a die hard Dan Brown fan, you would have no trouble reading this book, but it won't entertain you like the rest.

திருடனை கொட்டிய தேள்!

எனக்கும் மற்றவர்களை போல் ஒரு சிறுகதை எழுதவேண்டும் என்ற அவா நீண்ட நாட்களாக இருந்தது. நான் அப்படி நினைக்க காரணமாக இருந்து, என்னை ஊக்குவித்த திரு கிஷோர் அவர்களுக்கு என் மனமார்ந்த நன்றியை தெரிவித்துக்கொள்கிறேன்.

வீட்டில் சிறு விஷயங்களுக்கு கூட கோபித்துக்கொள்ளும் அவன், அன்று அந்த பெண் அனைவருக்கும் முன்பு கூறிய கடுமையான வார்த்தைகளை அமைதியாய் ஏற்றுக்கொண்டான். அவன் கூறுவதை அவள் கொஞ்சம் கூட மதித்ததாக தெரியவில்லை.

இதை வேடிக்கை பார்த்துக்கொண்டிருந்த ஒருவன், "இவனுங்க எல்லாம் திருந்தவேமாட்டானுங்க?" என்று கேட்க அவனுக்கு கோபம் தலைக்கு மேல் ஏறியது. இருப்பினும் அதை வெளியில் காட்டிக்கொள்ளாமல் வீட்டிற்கு திரும்பினான்.

"டேய் ஷ்யாம் கண்ணா! டிபன் சாப்பிடு வா!" என்று அழைத்தாள் அவன் தாய். "போம்மா உனக்கு வேற வேலையே கிடையாதா?" என்றவன் "என்னை கொஞ்ச நேரம் தனியாய் விட்டு தொல" என்று சொல்லி தான் அறையின் உள் சென்று கதவை தாளிட்டுக்கொண்டான். அன்று அவன் தனக்கு நிகழ்ந்த சம்பவங்களை ஆசை போட்டு பார்க்கத்துவங்கினான்.

அவனுக்கு அன்றைய பொழுது நன்றாகத்தான் சென்றது. தன் நண்பனின் வீட்டிற்கு சென்று திரும்பும் வழியில் தான் அந்த சம்பவம் அவனுக்கு நிகழ்ந்தது. ஹோண்டா வண்டியை சற்று வேகமாக ஒட்டிக்கொண்டிருந்த அவன் ரோட்டின் முன்பு வெட்டிவைக்கப்பட்டிருந்த குழியை கவனிக்கவில்லை. திடீரென அவன் வண்டியை டிஸ்க் ப்ரேக் மூலம் நிறுத்த முயற்சிக்க வண்டி ஸ்கிட் ஆனது.

இவன் அதிருஷ்டவசமாக அருகில் கொட்டப்பட்டிருந்த மணலில் விழ வண்டி மறுபுறம் தேய்த்துக்கொண்டு சென்று அருகில் நின்று கொண்டிருந்த காரின் மீது மோதியது. காரின் ஹெட்‌லைட் கீழே விழ, இதைக் கண்டு திடுக்கிட்ட காரின் உரிமாயாளரான அந்த பெண் இவனுக்கு மிஞ்சிய கோபக்காரியாக இருந்தாள்.

இவன் எவ்வளவு எடுத்துக்கூறியும் அவள் பொறுத்துக்கொள்வதாக தெரியவில்லை. பிறகு, ஒரு வழியாக "ஹெட்‌லைட் சரி செய்து தருகிறேன்" என்று இவன் வாக்குறுதி கொடுத்த பிறகே அவள் சற்று ஓய்ந்தாள். "ஒரு பொன் என்றால் போதும் உடனே அந்த இடத்தில் கூட்டம் கூடி விடும். என்னக்கொடுமை சரவணன்!!!!" என்று தன்னிடமிருந்த ஆயிரம் ரூபாயை மொய் எழுதிவிட்டு வீட்டிற்கு திரும்பினான்.

100 Essential Skills for Geeks!

As Geeks we are expected to have a certain set of skills that the majority of the population does not possess. This list is by no means complete, but I think it is a good sample of the skills required to be a true geek. I won’t pretend to have all the skills listed here. I even had to Google a few of them.

Like all good Geeks you should be able to utilize resources to accomplish any of these things. Knowing where to look for the knowledge is as good as having it so give yourself points if you are certain that you could Google the knowledge necessary for a skill.

1. Properly secure a wireless router.
2. Crack the WEP key on a wireless router.
3. Leech Wifi from your neighbor.
4. Screw with Wifi leeches.
5. Setup and use a VPN.
6. Work from home or a coffee shop as effectively as you do at the office.
7. Wire your own home with Ethernet cable.
8. Turn a web camera into security camera.
9. Use your 3G phone as a Wi-Fi access point.
10. Understand what “There’s no Place Like 127.0.0.1” means.
11. Identify key-loggers.
12. Properly connect a TV, Tivo, XBox, Wii, and Apple TV so they all work together with the one remote.
13. Program a universal remote.
14. Swap out the battery on your iPod/iPhone.
15. Benchmark Your Computer
16. Identify all computer components on sight.
17. Know which parts to order from NewEgg.com, and how to assemble them into a working PC.
18. Troubleshoot any computer/gadget problem, over the phone.
19. Use any piece of technology intuitively, without instruction or prior knowledge.
20. How to irrecoverably protect data.
21. Recover data from a dead hard drive.
22. Share a printer between a Mac and a PC on a network.
23. Install a Linux distribution. (Hint: Ubuntu 9.04 is easier than installing Windows)
24. Remove a virus from a computer.
25. Dual (or more) boot a computer.
26. Boot a computer off a thumb drive.
27. Boot a computer off a network drive.
28. Replace or repair a laptop keyboard.
29. Run more than two monitors on a single computer.
30. Successfully disassemble and reassemble a laptop.
31. Know at least 10 software easter eggs off the top of your head.
32. Bypass a computer password on all major operating systems. Windows, Mac, Linux
33. Carrying a computer cleaning arsenal on your USB drive.
34. Bypass content filters on public computers.
35. Protect your privacy when using a public computer.
36. Surf the web anonymously from home.
37. Buy a domain, configure bind, apache, MySQL, php, and Wordpress without Googling a how-to.
38. Basic *nix command shell knowledge with the ability to edit and save a file with vi.
39. Create a web site using vi.
40. Transcode a DVD to play on a portable device.
41. Hide a file in an image using steganography.
42. Knowing the answer to life, the universe and everything.
43. Share a single keyboard and mouse between multiple computers without a KVM switch.
44. Google obscure facts in under 3 searches. Bonus point if you can use I Feel Lucky.
45. Build amazing structures with LEGO and invent a compelling back story for the creation.
46. Understand that it is LEGO, not Lego, Legos, or Lego’s.
47. Build a two story house out of LEGO, in monochrome, with a balcony.
48. Construct a costume for you or your kid out of scraps, duct tape, paper mâché, and imagination.
49. Be able to pick a lock.
50. Determine the combination of a Master combination padlock in under 10 minutes.
51. Assemble IKEA furniture without looking at the instructions. Bonus point if you don’t have to backtrack.
52. Use a digital SLR in full manual mode.
53. Do cool things to Altoids tins.
54. Be able to construct paper craft versions of space ships.
55. Origami! Bonus point for duct tape origami. (Ductigami)
56. Fix anything with duct tape, chewing gum and wire.
57. Knowing how to avoid being eaten by a grue.
58. Know what a grue is.
59. Understand where XYZZY came from, and have used it.
60. Play any SNES game on your computer through an emulator.
61. Burn the rope.
62. Know the Konami code, and where to use it.
63. Whistle, hum, or play on an iPhone, the Cantina song.
64. Learning to play the theme songs to the kids favorite TV shows.
65. Solve a Rubik’s Cube.
66. Calculate THAC0.
67. Know the difference between skills and traits.
68. Explain special relativity in terms an eight-year-old can grasp.
69. Recite pi to 10 places or more.
70. Be able to calculate tip and split the check, all in your head.
71. Explain that the colours in a rainbow are roygbiv.
72. Understand the electromagnetic spectrum - xray, uv, visible, infrared, microwave, radio.
73. Know the difference between radiation and radioactive contamination.
74. Understand basic electronics components like resistors, capacitors, inductors and transistors.
75. Solder a circuit while bottle feeding an infant. (lead free solder please.)
76. The meaning of technical acronyms.
77. The coffee dash, blindfolded (or blurry eyed). Coffee [cream] [sugar]. In under a minute.
78. Build a fighting robot.
79. Program a fighting robot.
80. Build a failsafe into a fighting robot so it doesn’t kill you.
81. Be able to trace the Fellowship’s journey on a map of Middle Earth.
82. Know all the names of the Dwarves in The Hobbit.
83. Understand the difference between a comic book and a graphic novel.
84. Know where your towel is and why it is important.
85. Re-enact the parrot sketch.
86. Know the words to The Lumberjack Song.
87. Reciting key scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
88. Be able to recite at least one Geek Movie word for word.
89. Know what the 8th Chevron does on a Stargate and how much power is required to get a lock.
90. Be able to explain why it’s important that Han shot first.
91. Know why it is just wrong for Luke and Leia to kiss.
92. Stop talking Star Wars long enough to get laid.
93. The ability to name actors, characters and plotlines from the majority of sci-fi movies produced since 1968.
94. Cite Mythbusters when debunking a myth or urban legend.
95. Sleep with a Cricket bat next to your bed.
96. Have a documented plan on what to do during a zombie or robot uprising.
97. Identify evil alternate universe versions of friends, family, co-workers or self.
98. Be able to convince TSA that the electronic parts you are carrying are really not a threat to passengers.
99. Talk about things that aren’t tech related.
100. Get something on the front page of Digg.

Twitter is not for teens!

A research note written by a 15-year-old Morgan Stanley intern that described his friends' media habits has generated a flurry of interest from media executives and investors.

The Financial Times reported today that the US investment bank's European media analysts asked Matthew Robson, an intern from a London school, to write a report on teenagers' likes and dislikes.

His report, that dismissed Twitter and described online advertising as pointless, proved to be "one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen – so we published it", said Edward Hill-Wood, head of Morgan Stanley's European media team.

"We've had dozens and dozens of fund managers, and several CEOs, e-mailing and calling all day." He said the note had generated five or six times more responses than the team's usual research.

The rapid surge of interest in social networking and messaging sites has prompted speculation that sites such as Twitter or Facebook could be taken over. But Robson's report suggested that such a move could be folly. He said teenagers were using more and more media, but they were unwilling to pay for it.

"Teenagers do not use Twitter," he wrote. "They realise that no one is viewing their profile, so their tweets are pointless."

Robson warned that traditional media – television, radio and newspapers – are losing ground as his peers prefer listening to advert-free music on websites such as Last.fm to traditional radio. Even online, teens find advertising "extremely annoying and pointless".

Time and money are instead devoted to cinema, concerts and video game consoles, which he said have emerged as a more popular choice for chatting with friends than the phone.

No teenager he knew regularly reads a newspaper since most "cannot be bothered to read pages and pages of text," preferring summaries on the internet or on television.

His report came as media moguls gathered at the Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. This annual event is a chance for the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to discuss the latest business and technology issues in a relaxed atmosphere.

When interviewed at the event, Murdoch appeared to rule out making a bid for the micro-blogging site Twitter. Asked if he was considering buying Twitter, Murdoch said, "No." Asked about selling MySpace, he replied, "Hell no."

(Courtesy: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/13/twitter-teenage-media-habits)

Reclaim your hijacked search bar

The other morning, I clicked on an upgrade button for Winamp. Generally, I like the program, it seems to load faster than Media Player, and doesn't bother me too much. In the afternoon, I did a search by typing in the address bar of Firefox. Normally, this type of search brings me to the Google results of the phrase, but this time it brought me to the Winamp results of the search term. Grrrr. Winamp hijacked my search bar.

This wasn't the first time that this had happened, a few months ago, I encountered a similar phenomenon while looking for a way to convert the .3gp files that come from the audio recorder on the G1 to .mp3, .wav or just about any other format that can be used on a standard player.

As it turns out, Winamp hijacked three settings from my browser. Bad software....sit.....stay.... I successfully changed the location bar search, the search bar in the upper right, and my home page. Here's how:

Location bar:

If this is the first time you have done this, it'll be a bit more complex than normal setting changes.

Here is how to get it done:

• Open up a new tab


• type about:config in the location bar and press enter


• You may see a warning message that discourages you from going further. Make your choice and live with it.


• In the filter field, type keyword. As you type it, fewer values will be listed below


• The one you are looking for is keyword.URL


• The value I like is: http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q= Which searches google and returns the result. You can also have it search through other vendors, and return different amounts of info.


• When you close it, the settings should be changed.


• Test it with the term of your choice to make sure it is working properly.

Search bar:

This is an easy fix. Click on the arrow to the left of the field and select the search engine you want.

Home page: This one I didn't notice until later. It's also pretty straightforward. Go to the EDIT menu, choosepreferences, then go to the MAIN section. Home page should be up in the top third of the window. Below it are a couple of buttons, including Use Current Pages. That one can be a pain, because every time you hit the Home button, it will load all the tabs you have open currently. If you are addicted to tabs, this will really send you over the edge with a zillion tabs open in no time at all. It is easier to just pick the one page that you want to be your home page, and go from there.

This process should work for Mozilla-based browsers. What are your favorite tricks with web browsers?

(Courtesy: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/07/how-to_reclaim_your_hijacked_search_ba.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890)

Bottled Water banned in Australia

The small Australian town of Bundanoon just set a new standard for sustainability by voting to do what no community has ever done before: ban bottled water! The measure was founded over concerns about the tremendous amount of resources used to extract, package, and transport bottled water, and it passed nearly unanimously in a town hall meeting. Will this be the beginning of a trend?

Although Bundanoon is a small community of about 2,500 residents, the decision to ban bottled water sets a great example for towns and cities around the world. The decision to ban bottled water began as a response to the desire of a bottling company to extract water from the town, take it to Sydney, and bring it back to the town to sell it. After the town learned of the environmental impacts of this cycle they decided to do something about it.

All the shops in the town agreed to the measure, and now instead of bottled water the town will install filtered water fountains so that people can fill their reusable bottles free of charge. The shops will sell these reusable containers to visitors coming to the town.

(Courtesy: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/07/09/australian-town-bans-bottled-water/ )

How to make a Cryptex?

The word cryptex is a neologism coined by the author Dan Brown for his 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code, denoting a portable vault used to hide secret messages. It is a combination of the words cryptology and codex; "an apt title for this device" since it uses "the science of cryptology to protect information written on the contained scroll or codex" (p. 199 of the novel). Brown implies that a scroll and a codex are the same thing; however a scroll is a book that is unrolled a page at a time; and a codex is a book that can be opened to any page at will, two very different things. It is claimed in the novel that the original design came from the secret diaries of Leonardo da Vinci. In reality, though there is little doubt he possessed the mechanical skill to design such a device, there is no record of him actually doing so.

But, the following video explains you how to make Cryptex:

(Reference: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/07/how-to_cryptex.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890)

Killer Clock Concept by Vadim Kibardin

Designer Vadim Kibardin's suh-weeeet Black & White Clock turns two dimensions into three with a series of four OLED digits, each with their own power source.

A light sensor would figure out if it's bright or dark in the room, adjusting the numbers accordingly--going dark to form numbers during the day, and bright white at night.

Status: Concept stage, seeking a manufacturer.

(Courtesy: http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/vadim_kibardins_killer_clock_concept_14009.asp)

The 'Urine' Power

Urine-powered cars, homes and personal electronic devices could be available in six months with new technology developed by scientists from Ohio University.

Using a nickel-based electrode, the scientists can create large amounts of cheap hydrogen from urine that could be burned or used in fuel cells. "One cow can provide enough energy to supply hot water for 19 houses," said Gerardine Botte, a professor at Ohio University developing the technology. "Soldiers in the field could carry their own fuel."

Pee power is based on hydrogen, the most common element in the universe but one that has resisted efforts to produce, store, transport and use economically.

Storing pure hydrogen gas requires high pressure and low temperature. Newnanomaterials with high surface areas can adsorb hydrogen, but have yet to be produced on a commercial scale.

Chemically binding hydrogen to other elements, like oxygen to create water, makes it easier to store and transport, but releasing the hydrogen when it's needed usually requires financially prohibitive amounts of electricity.

By attaching hydrogen to another element, nitrogen, Botte and her colleagues realized that they can store hydrogen without the exotic environmental conditions, and then release it with less electricity, 0.037 Volts instead of the 1.23 Volts needed for water.

One molecule of urea, a major component of urine, contains four atoms of hydrogen bonded to two atoms of nitrogen. Stick a special nickel electrode into a pool of urine, apply an electrical current, and hydrogen gas is released.

Botte's current prototype measures 3x3x1 inch and can produce up to 500 milliwatts of power. However, Botte and her colleagues are actively trying to commercialize several larger versions of the technology.

A fuel cell, urine-powered vehicle could theoretically travel 90 miles per gallon. A refrigerator-sized unit could produce one kilowatt of energy for about $5,000, although this price is a rough estimate, says Botte.

"The waste products from say a chicken farm could be used to produce the energy needed to run the farm," said John Stickney, a chemist and professor at the University of Georgia.

For livestock farmers who are required by law to pool their animals' waste, large scale prototypes could turn that urine into power within six months.

Smaller versions likely won't be available until after that, so the average consumer probably shouldn't start saving their pee just yet.

"It is not a solution for all our cars," said Stickney, "but it is the kind of process which will find many applications and will make for a greener world."

(Courtesy: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/08/urine-power.html)

10 Stunning (And Useful) Stats About Twitter

Last month a social media analytics provider named Sysomos released a comprehensive report on Twitter usage. The problem with most analysis on Twitter, though, is that it is limited by the minimal amount of data that Twitter collects. So, to fill the gaps, most reports do things like guessing gender based on real names or pulling data from keywords in people's biographic information. This often yields some questionable results - and the Sysomos report is not immune to this (for example, they find that 65% of Twitter users are under the age of 25, but base this on only the 0.7% of users who actually disclose their age).

Looking past these small points, the report does share some fairly interesting observations and stats as well if you dig a bit deeper. Here's my read on the 10 standout conclusions that the report offers to help you (and your brand) better understand the potential uses of Twitter:

1. 21% (One Fifth) of Twitter accounts are empty placeholders. These are the percentage of Twitter accounts that have never posted a single tweet. They may either be registered simply to hold a username for later use, or be experimental accounts started up but never used.
2. Nearly 94% of all Twitter accounts have less than 100 followers. In a finding perhaps consistent with the newness of the tool as well as the fact that many people may currently have an account simply to start experimenting with the tool, Sysomos found the vast majority of Twitter users have an extremely low followership.
3. March and April of 2009 were the tipping point for Twitter. During these months, Ashton Kutcher launched his quest to get to 1 million followers faster than CNN, Oprah started using Twitter, and the steady flow of new users to the site continued. For many, it offered a safer and easier way to get their feet wet with social media, 140 characters at a time.
4. 150 followers is the magic number. In a particularly interesting data point from the survey, Sysomos found that Twitter users tended to "follow back" all their followers up until about 150 connections. Then the reciprocation rate fell off dramatically, which seems to indicate that this number may be the crossover point where people shift from using Twitter for more personal use to using it more for "lifecasting" their thoughts and actions to a community of people who they feel varying levels of connection to.
5. A small minority creates most of the activity. A steep curve of a small minority of actively engaged content creators generating most of the activity on a site is common among social networks, but it is steeper and more pronounced on Twitter. 5% of users account for 75% of all activity, and 10% of users account for 86%. This seems to suggest that the site has managed to engage a mass audience beyond those who typically engage with social media.
6. Half of all Twitter users are not "active." If you take a general description of being "active" on Twitter to mean that you have posted a tweet at some point in the last 7 days (1 week), then the survey learned that 50.4% of all Twitter users fit this category. If you remove the 21% from point #1, this leaves about 30% of users who have an account and have tweeted before, but happen to be inactive now.
7. Tuesday is the most active Twitter day. One of the most useful data points from the report is that it clears up the common question of which day of the week is the best day to tweet something. Sysomos found that Tuesday stood out as the most popular day for tweets and retweets, followed by Wednesday and then Friday.
8. APIs have been the key to Twitter's growth & utility. In terms of tools that people are using for Twitter, Sysomos found that more than half (55%) of all Twitter users use something other than Twitter.com to tweet, search and connect with others. This may, in part, be due to Twitter's notorious reputation of failing/crashing, but also is a credit to all the third party applications that have been built on top of Twitter and do their fair share to bring new users to the service.
9. English still dominates Twitter. When exploring Russia as part of a class that I am teaching this summer at Georgetown, one of the barriers we learned about was the difficulty of fitting some Russian language words into just 140 characters. Twitter is, however, extremely English-friendly. As the Sysomos report found, the top four countries on Twitter are all English speaking (US, UK, Canada, Australia). Of these, US makes up 62% of all Twitter users, followed by UK with nearly 8% and Canada and Australia with 5.7% and 2.8% respectively. The largest non-English speaking country on Twitter? Brazil with 2%.
10. Twitter is being led by the social media geeks. This particular finding should likely come as no surprise, but 15% of Twitter users who follow more than 2000 people identify themselves as social media marketers. These individuals are more likely to post updates every day (sometimes more than once per day) and also use Twitter more actively for direct communication.

Bonus Geographical Stat/Quote: "The cities with the biggest Twitter populations are New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco, and Boston. Los Angeles is the fastest growing city on the list."

(Courtesy: http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/2009/07/10-stunning-and-useful-stats-about-twitter.html )