Wednesday, September 27, 2006

No posts for 13 days...

I'll be off to Hyderabad for my holidays from 29th Sept to 8th October.

So there will be no posting till the 10th of October.( one day rest ;-) )

IDF Fall 2006 Day 1....It rocked.

IDF rocks.I'm tellin u .Ill take a visit as soon as I can.It is one place where u can get a peek into the new technologies developed by Intel and some other companies.

Letz begin.

IDF Fall 2006,California.

As usual ,Paul Otellini kicked off the event.It began with the announcement of Apple's transition to Intel's processors.

Intel announced its 65nm acheivements.It had shipped 40 million CPUs fabricated using the 65nm technology while its competitors.....Zero!!!!!!!And of those only 5 million were Core 2 showing that most of the processors shipped are mostly Netburst or Yonah based.The Xeon based on 65nm is codenamed Woodcrest.

Alas with 65nm in, Intel's wasting no time on developing 45nm fabrication plants.One already up and producing test wafers while two more are nearing completion.Probably coming up in 2008, this successor to the Core architecture is called Nehalem. And looking in deeper ,the Gesher microarchitecture will be out by 2010.

Quadro (code name: Kentsfield)will be realesed in November 2006.Initially Intel will offer Core 2 Extreme QX6700 at 2.66GHz and later a Core 2 Quad Q6600 at 2.40GHz. However these will be two dies on a single package.We will have to wait for the 45nm technology for a single die-quad core processor( which will be codenamed Peryn ).

On the server side, Intel is offering the quad core Xeon 5300 in November alongside Kentsfield. Expect a low voltage version of this in Jan'07 ,the quadcore Clovertown which will consume a measly 50W.

Then Markus Maki, Founder and Chairman of Remedy came on stage to display their latest game Alan Wake on an over-clocked quadcore running at 3.73GHz. The game ran smoothly but consumed an entire core demonstrating the amount of processing power that will be needed by games in the future.

And then, a long wait came to an end: What was Intel's answer to The Cell.
The Answer: The Teraflop chip.With 80 FPUs(basically cores with a very simple Instruction set) ,this beast will be able to churn out one teraflop of number crunching power.Intel says this would debut with a clock speed of 3.1 GHz and consume 1W per core or 100W overall.

And then came Toshiba's 2nd generation HD-DVD players and another short update on Intel's Viiv which was almost nothing.

Some updates on UMPC(Ultra Mobile PC) followed showing that Intel is still committed on developing these.The interesting part was the UI which was developed by a company called Streetdeck and seemed to be far easier to navigate than the default Win XP that many of the UMPCs come out with.

Volkswagen came onstage with a demonstration of its in-car entertainment system that could easily link up with the UMPC using WiMAX.

That was Day 1....exhilarating. The new technologies left me breathless and Otelinni's face expression while displaying the wafer of The Teraflop summed up everything.

Intel seems to have enough power to once again rule over the market ...absolutely. Already, with the release of the Conroe based Core 2 Duos Intel has regained the title of manufacturing the most powerful desktop processors.Unless AMD comes out with new technologies to counter Intel, the domination will continue. Is AMD listening?

Monday, September 25, 2006

I told you to care about the blog

Something interesting.A very short but interesting article available on Extremetech.com. The article: Past,Present and Future. Please visit. I mean it is insightful. Ask urself if ur using all the technology you have at ur disposal to its best.

My Comments/Views (may be completely out of sync with the article,....may be, don't mind):
A common question:How many of us use atleast 15% of the features available in MS Word.Do you use the notepad feature in Y!mail (or in any other).Do you use the "filter" service provided?Do you customize ur login page in Google?(Dont tell me you never used this).All this is available and we dont use it.How many tweak ur systems instead of going in for upgrades,or study the user manuals?How many use the advanced options for better searches?Bookmark ur pages properly?

In todays world,time matters and these have taken hundreds of hours of coding, re-checks, optimizations,etc. .............so that you save your time.And you don't use them and simply say "It needs to get more user-friendly".

As the quest for a better world continues, we must make sure we make optimal use of everything available....in the context of this post, the technology available.

The End.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

The Day has Come :The 24th of September

Alas.Here it is ,the 24th of September.The last day of our holidays...and they leave us now...back to our classes....exposed to the might of the "ill see how u'll get a 9 CGPA" profs.

In another 20-odd minutes, cometh the 25th.I think I don't should worry so much about tomorrow as I must of the day after.Tuesday is hell .And when I say it, I mean it.

Engineering drawing.To follow it, is the dreaded subject: Chemistry.And to make matters worse there will be viva on Conductometric titration, a topic which I left even for the JEE-2006.

No use worrying, my mind says.Poor mind, what does it know about the feelings of my heart.It is beating fast now.Pounding , probably.

Well, this short post will be cut short here.(Nonsense. "Short post"?"Cut short"? Superfluousness at its best.That's me.)

Need to sleep now so that I'll get up early, at least for the first post-midsem class. Bye.

PS:Actually , I personally feel, I'm losing the story by writing something unrelated to what I promised earlier.If u feel so,then comment.

And, one more point.Can anyone guess why I put up this.This is the second time I'm asking a question like this. Try.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Another day beginning 3 PM

Just another day starting at 3 PM.

Wake up at three, brush , have a bath,and run to CIC. But only to find it closed!!!
Go to the library , read some books.Again , each time I go to the library , I find something or the other interesting.If it weren't for the CIC , I would've spent my whole first year in the library....good for me....I think.

This, probably is the most boring mood I'm writing in.Nothing special...add a dumb movie prior to this writing session and ull know how it will feel.

The only reason I'm writing this is to try out the new Blogger Beta ...well it is not that good right now. I would not recommend anyone to shift to it as of yet.Unoptimized code, thats the main problem.And not a very well co-ordinated team , I must say.The Blogger Buzz and the Blogger Home Page contradict each other.Its slow .As I already said , the culprit is the unoptimized code.Doesnt look crisp and good either.The previous version was much better.However , I hope thse issues will be solved out soon.Time is of utmost importance, here.

The movie I mentioned earlier was "Killer" starring Emraan Hashmi , Irfan Khan, Zakeer Hussain, and Nisha Kothari .

Thats it for today.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Ya...Holidays dont mean regular posting.

Days starting at 3pm,
Ending at 7am (next day),
Missing breakfast and lunch,
Having extra food at midnight to make up for the crunch,
Adventurous our souls in the rain,
Nothin but satisfaction is our gain.
On the Net for 7 hrs,
Orkuttin, chattin, and surfin,
There is no end to the fun we have,
Once the classes start we won't have,
All this we put aside ,
Studies we take up,
And at 6 we have to wake up.

Thats life at KGP my friendz.
Exams are over...ya i already told you.Regular posting is being made impossible by the ever increasing friends on my chat list. So ,the next post might be made only on Sunday...at 11:30 pm, most probably.

And moving on to other matters...err..like...
Ah! The movie my friends and I watched yesterday night "Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind". Awesome yaar, guys who came in mid-way were at sea. Two other guys and I were the only ones who understood it properly ....we were in peals of laughter when the other guys posed their questions.
Some info about the film:
Title: Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind
Director:Michael Gondry
Story : Michael Gondry and Charlie Kaufman
Starring : Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet.
Rating : 8.6/10 (on IMDb.com)
Ranked #38 all time.
Click here for more on IMDb.com

Then a trip to the common room (at 4:30 in the morning!!!) for the TV proved fruitful as I watched my beloved Swat Kats on Cartoon Network after 5 years....nostlagic it was.

Then ,shifted to B4U Music...bah nothin very interesting...went back to the room ....read something called "Operating System Concepts" .Nice book...pretty easy.
It was already 6 am.And it was raining heavily outside.So decided to cancel the pre-planned jogging and wait for the breakfast at the mess at 6:30 am.

7 am.Breakfast done and Time to Sleep.Went to bed.

Alarm goes off at 12:30 pm.Time for lunch.

Then some problems for the Hall President(No yaar ....not me)...some brawl in the hostel the previous night results in serious injuries for one of them.Hall council is summoned immediately and Gen Sec for Maintenance is screwed up by the Warden. Inquiry Committee formed and statements were collected from students...I had to write too. Investigation still continuing at a superb speed ....the case might well be resolved by tommorow evening. But dont expect any updates about that on this blog. I just dont think I'll get the required info from the President.

And a successful visit to the hospital for a medical certificate to bunk tomorrow's NCC class makes the day more cheerful amidst all the rain and headaches(read investigations) .Dinner and the entry into the CIC make sure everything else is regular stuff for today.I seem to be spending too much time at the CIC relative to others.Each time I put on my backpack and get ready to go out a guy pops out and says "CIC ka?"(Translation: "To the CIC?").And all others laugh.Very funny.

And, a loss to Australia in a well fought encounter takes the fizz off Sania's entry into the semis of the Sunfeast Open.Damned...how can the Aussies keep winning like this?Awesome yaar...too good.

Someone's online now and I think its time I think its meet that i finish this post here.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Exams R Over ...........All set to rock KGP

Ah , the dreaded exams are over and ...the hidden energy is leakin out ,so unquantifiable that it required the combined efforts of rain and wind to prevent the sudden outflow of students from the campus!

There was a storm and what a storm it was! Uprooting trees ,submerging roads,....etc.Leave the topic. "What!" ,you might say because I started this just now and already changing. Ya...eccentric guy I am ;-)

Let us talk about the Maths paper today.Easy at the first look , solvable at the second, tricky at the third. Somehow ,I finished the paper 15 mins ahead of time and made it out of the hall.

Expectations were high ....I was expecting 28.5/30 and in that happy mood went to the hostel. The inescapable was taking place : Paper discussion. I was confident after my performance. But the truth always hurts - I did some mistakes ...geee...that word ...."silly"....Silly mistakes....they were classified as and each guy took turns to cut down my marks - 1.5 per head and 5 guys succeded. It was decided that I would get 21.Now that sucks...Maths is one subject I dont like losing marks. What could I do. It was all over...Screwed up my Mid-sems successfully.

I decided that this "haunting" past should not ruin my holidays...which in the first place are rare.

Had my lunch at 12:30 pm and took rest.

The time was 2:30 pm - the time for the computer centre, from where i am typing away this stuff - opens. Ting-ting, the alert was given and i started off braving the rain and the storm.After some great fortune...of not being hit by an Ambassador ...I managed to reach this place.After this,everything was pretty uneventful. Time flew by and it was very soon 7pm...and I realized that I missed out snacks and more importantly it was time for dinner. Today is Wednesday and if I didnt go early ,there would be long queues for the special item....Ice cream.

By the time I raced to the mess ,it was still 7:10 pm and thank god no queues.The dinner went on smoothly without any boos and I was back at the CIC...oh this place is called CIC (Computers and Informatics Centre).

Had 8 friends online the Yahoo messenger and I just kept chattin till each of them dropped....right now......just a sec....only one guy is online. I stopped that just to update this blog...see...I am soooo dedicated. Of course Orkuttin is simultaneous.

And there is nothing else to write about today, except for the flopped plan of "A trip to Kolkata".Bloody rain, ruined it.

Its 11:45 pm and very soon the security will be here shouting "Arey ,baraah ho gaya." It is time that I publish this as a post posted on 20th of September...Ok..ok no more stretching of this post...ala Ekta ka serials.

Bye.

NOTE:A title doesnt always give an idea of what is to follow.Why I put this up, you decide!

Monday, September 18, 2006

How to screw up ur Mid-sems (Special Focus:Organic Chemistry) in IIT

As I promised earlier, here is the article.

Read carefully "How to screw up ur Mid-sems(Special Focus: Organic Chemistry)"

As u get into the first semister of a fresh year ( or for that matter,a new semester), be with great confidence that u will cross 90% without even studying for 1 hr a day and that studying for huge periods of time(read: 1 hr) would damage ur eyes and cause a heart-break to ur professors who are hell-bent on giving u the least possible marks possible.

Next, never mind the fact that u arent understanding the classes because u havent attended the previous class....oops.....there was another important point :Wake up late so that u can tell urself "Cmon yaar, better be absent than late".

Even as the exams approaching at the rate a Ferrari accelarates( I know ...I know...a stupid comparision....the second subject of the comparision is something desirable), just keep chillin out at the comp. centre and drinkin cold coffee at the canteen.

Ok, I said special focus on Organic Chemistry so here it is.
Lovers of Org Chem. are requested not to read this.

Organic Chemistry is a back-stabbing subject.Ya after 2 great experiences Ive decided to brand my ex-love....alas it was once uponb a time a subject that i read
with great passion and spent sleepless nights solving problems in Org. Chem.
Then the first experience: IIT-JEE 2006. Simply flopped in Chemistry...No more words.

The second experience is of more interest here for it is "The Mid-Sems of the Autumn Semester 2006-2007"...the exam that got over today morning.
How to screw up basically depends on two factors : what you are expecting and how you perform.So, aim high and perform bad is the ideal thing to do....however being the kinda people we are we cant perform bad...na?We give the best we can.
So pump up one factor to compensate for the other i.e. aim for such marks that next time u sleep in ur class the Prof would be awed at ur genius.

And I think i forgot to tell something ....dont study before the exam...Just trust your memory that u will remember what u studied exactly 9 months, 3 days ,11 hrs 24 mins and 4.87 seconds earlier (Geeeee.....I like precision yaar).

Never mind if u didnt understand anything or atleast felt confused...after screwing up(arghhh.........I cant find an alternative word) my chemistry exam what did you expect ? An article clearly explaining something(eh? what was the theme of the article ...theme?subject?title? whatever).

There was a promise fulfilled...
;-)
I always keep up promises.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Chemistry Exam on Monday.......

See I told ya. Holidays would only mean eveynight I'll be hooked on the Net and keep blogging.

Today was boring at the least, the only respite being the cricket match between India and Australia at Kuala Lumpur. I expected India to win this after a "OK" bowling performance but the much-hyped Indian team put up a pathetic show crashing to 35/5 . I dunno what happened next and i dont bother.Just a sec, my friends here say the match got cancelled due to rain...how ironic would it have been if India lost due to rain - the second time Rain played traunt.It wasn't to be. Thank.........rain. Ya,thank rain , obviously, for cancelling the match.

Moving on to other issues....once again a visit to the library proved fruitful quenching my thirst for some sort of interesting reading (dont say books relating to syllabi are interesting...i wouldnt ,in a lifetime ,agree).

Oh! Did i title this post as "Chemistry Exam ........" .Never mind .

Talk not of things, my friend , that which were screwed up, or that which will be screwed up.

;-)

Next post will be on Monday night 11:00 PM. Watch out for the description of "How to screw up ur Mid-sems (Special Focus:Organic Chemistry) in IIT "

And now a short course on "How to comment on a blog page" .
1.Read the blog carefully
2.Search for the end of the blog and specially for "posted by *#$#@"
3.Next to it will be "# comments" . This is a link .
4.Click on it and comment.
5.There it is ...the page where u can praise me (hopefully??? Cmon yaar I've given u a course) or screw me up for whatever reasons u have.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Find Out: Future of RAM is here ???

Here is something i promised in my very first blog.....some technical stuff.Not everything is my original work (obviously).

Everything in quotes taken from Wikipedia
"
Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) is a non-volatile computer memory NVRAM technology, which has been in development since the 1990s. Continued increases in density of existing memory technologies, notably Flash RAM and DRAM kept MRAM in a niche role in the market, but its proponents believe that the advantages are so overwhelming that MRAM will eventually become dominant.

Description

Unlike conventional RAM chip technologies, data is not stored as electric charge or current flows,but by magnetic storage elements. The elements are formed from two ferromagnetic plates, each of which can hold a magnetic field, separated by a thin insulating layer. One of the two plates is a permanent magnet set to a particular polarity, the other's field will change to match that of an external field. A memory device is built from a grid of such "cells".

Reading is accomplished by measuring the electrical resistance of the cell. A particular cell is (typically) selected by powering an associated transistor, which switches current from a supply line through the cell to ground. Due to the magnetic tunnel effect, the electrical resistance of the cell changes due to the orientation of the fields in the two plates. By measuring the resulting current, the resistance inside any particular cell can be determined, and from this the polarity of the writable plate. Typically if the two plates have the same polarity this is considered to mean "0", while if the two plates are of opposite polarity the resistance will be higher and this means "1".

Data is written to the cells using a variety of means. In the simplest, each cell lies between a pair of write lines arranged at right angles to each other, above and below the cell. When current is passed through them, an induced magnetic field is created at the junction, which the writable plate picks up. This pattern of operation is similar to core memory, a system commonly used in the 1960s. This approach requires a fairly substantial current to generate the field, however, which makes it less interesting for low-power uses, one of MRAM's primary disadvantages. Additionally, as the device is scaled down in size, there comes a time when the induced field overlaps adjacent cells over a small area, leading to potential false writes. This problem, the half-select (or write disturb) problem, appears to set a fairly large size for this type of cell. One experimental solution to this problem was to use circular domains written and read using the giant magnetoresistive effect, but it appears this line of research is no longer active.

Another approach, the toggle mode, uses a multi-step write with a modified multi-layer cell. The cell is modified to contain an "artificial antiferromagnet" where the magnetic orientation alternates back and forth across the surface, with both the pinned and free layers consisting of multi-layer stacks isolated by a thin "coupling layer". The resulting layers have only two stable states, which can be toggled from one to the other by timing the write current in the two lines so one is slightly delayed, thereby "rotating" the field. Any voltage less than the full write level actually increases its resistance to flipping. That means that other cells located along one of the write lines will not suffer from the half-select problem, allowing for smaller cell sizes.

A newer technique, spin-torque-transfer or Spin Transfer Switching, uses spin-aligned ("polarized") electrons to directly torque the domains. Specifically, if the electrons flowing into a layer have to change their spin, this will develop a torque that will be transferred to the nearby layer. This lowers the amount of current needed to write the cells, making it about the same as the read process. There are concerns that the "classic" type of MRAM cell will have difficulty at high densities due to the amount of current needed during writes, a problem STT avoids. For this reason, the STT proponents expect the technique to be used for devices of 65 nm and smaller. The downside is that, at present, STT needs to switch more current through the control transistor than conventional MRAM, requiring a larger transistor, and the need to maintain the spin coherence. Overall, however, the STT requires much less write current than conventional or toggle MRAM.


Comparison with other systems

Density

The main determinant of a memory system's cost is the density of the components used to make it up. Smaller components, and less of them, means that more "cells" can be packed onto a single chip, which in turn means more can be produced at once from a single silicon wafer. This improves yield, which is directly related to cost.

DRAM uses small capacitors as a memory element, wires to carry current to and from it, and a transistor to control it – referred to as a "1T1C" cell. Capacitors basically consist of two small metal plates separated by a thin insulator, a single element that can be built as small as the current fabrication technology allows. This makes DRAM the highest density RAM currently available, and thus the least expensive, which is why it is used for the majority of RAM found in a computer.

MRAM is physically similar to DRAM in makeup, although often does not require a transistor for the write operation. However, as mentioned above, the most basic MRAM cell suffers from the half-select problem, which limits cell sizes to around 180 nm or more. Toggle-mode MRAM offers a much smaller size before this becomes a problem, apparently around 90 nm, the same size as most current DRAM products. To be worth putting into wide production, however, it is generally believed that MRAM will have to move to the 65 nm size of the most advanced memory devices, which will require the use of STT.

Power consumption

Since the capacitors used in DRAM lose their charge over time, memory assemblies using them must periodically refresh all the cells in their chips, reading each one and re-writing its contents. This demands a constant power supply, which is why DRAM loses its memory when power is turned off on the computer. As DRAM cells decrease in size, the refresh cycles become shorter, and the power draw more continuous.

In contrast, MRAM requires no refresh at any time. Not only does this mean it retains its memory with the power turned off, but also that there is no constant power draw. While the read process theoretically requires more power than the same process in a DRAM, in practice the difference appears to be very close to zero. However, the write process requires more power in order to overcome the existing field stored in the junction, varying from three to eight times the power required during reading. Although the exact amount of power savings depends on the nature of the work – more frequent writing will require more power – in general MRAM proponents expect much lower power consumption (up to 99% less) compared to DRAM. STT-based MRAMs eliminate the difference between reading and writing, further reducing power requirements.

It is also worth comparing MRAM with another common memory system, Flash RAM. Like MRAM, Flash does not lose its memory when power is removed, which makes it very common as a "hard disk replacement" in small devices such as the iPod or digital cameras. When used for reading, Flash and MRAM are very similar in power requirements. However, Flash is re-written using a large pulse of voltage (about 10 V) that is stored up over time in a , which is both power-hungry and time consuming. Additionally the current pulse physically degrades the Flash cells, which means Flash can only be written to some fixed number of times before it must be replaced.

In contrast, MRAM requires only slightly more power to write than read, and no change in the voltage, eliminating the need for a charge pump. This leads to much faster operation, lower power consumption, and no effective "lifetime". These advantages are so overwhelming that it is expected Flash will be the first memory type to eventually be replaced by MRAM.

Speed

DRAM speed is limited by the speed at which the current stored in the cells can be drained (for reading) or stored (for writing). MRAM operation is based on measuring voltages rather than currents, so there is less "settling time" needed. IBM researchers have demonstrated MRAM devices with access times on the order of 2 ns, somewhat better than even the most advanced DRAMs built on much newer processes. The differences compared to Flash are far more significant, with similar performance for reads, but as much as thousands of times faster for writes.

The only current memory technology that easily competes with MRAM in terms of speed is Static RAM, or SRAM. SRAM consists of a series of transistors arranged in a , which will hold one of two states as long as power is applied. Since the transistors have a very low power requirement, their switching time is very low. However, since an SRAM cell consists of several transistors, typically four or six, its density is much lower than DRAM. This makes it expensive, which is why it is used only for small amounts of high-speed memory, notably the CPU cache in most modern CPU designs.

Although MRAM is not quite as fast as SRAM, it is close enough to be interesting even in this role. Given its much higher density, a CPU designer may be inclined to use MRAM to offer a much larger but somewhat slower cache, rather than a smaller but faster one. It remains to be seen how this trade off will play out in the future.

Overall

MRAM has similar speeds to SRAM, similar density but much lower power consumption than DRAM, and is much faster and suffers no degradation over time in comparison to Flash memory. It is this combination of features that some suggest make it the "universal memory", able to replace SRAM, DRAM and EEPROM and Flash. This also explains the huge amount of research being carried out into developing it.

However, market forces have to date kept MRAM out of widespread use. Intense pressure in the Flash market has driven vendors to aggressively introduce newer versions on the very latest fabs, producing 1 Gbit parts on the (currently) highest density 65 nm processes. DRAM offers considerably less return on investment due to overproduction, so most DDR2 DRAM is produced on a one-generation-old 90 nm process.

In comparison, MRAM is still largely "in development", and being produced on older non-critical fabs. The only commercial product widely available at this point is Freescale Semiconductor's 4 Mbit part, produced on a several-generations-old 180 nm process. As demand for Flash continues to outstrip supply, it appears it will be some time before a company can afford to "give up" one of their latest fabs for MRAM production. Even then, MRAM designs currently do not come close to Flash in terms of cell size, even using the same fab.
"

Why is MRAM in the news now:
MRAM was and is being researched seriously by IBM and Freescale Semiconductors. Now , Freescale Semiconductors has taken MRAM to the market and selling it at $25.00 per chip .The chips have a density of 4 Mbits/sq.mm. Freescale believes that it will have an edge over IBM by starting early because it gain experience on how consumers react and the marketing experience that goes with it.

Find more in the coming few days....I'll be bringin forth more tech news.
Oh, Ive also decided on the next technical article "Reverse Hyperthreading by AMD. Is it already implemented in the released AM2 processors?"

Friday, September 15, 2006

There...................a break till monday

There ..........today's Electrical Exam screwed me up......or the other way round : does it matter?

And, 2 days holidays only mean that ill be hooked up on the net every night!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chemistry's on Monday..........all set to screw it up big time.

Some good news too.......After a serious visit to the library, found out that there were books that im seriously interested in: Cryptography.And that beginners into journals (like me.....that mustve been obvious since i ma speakin of it nut just the itch to put somethin up here.....) must start off with "Resonance" rather than pounce on "Science" just because it is available.

And visitors interested in IIT Kharagpur can visit http://www.scholarsavenue.org

It is like a in-house magazine.I dunno if Non-KGPians can "do" anything but I'm just puttin it up. Try out.

And visit My Album, I put up some pics from Project Gotham Racing 3 (PGR3) . They are real cool, I promise.

And the usual request, this is a pretty new blog , so I need ur comments.
Ya ,in both the blogs.

See ya.

PS:The next post is about.........Just watch out for the post!!!!!!!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

A quote to be commented upon

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.
- Frank Tibolt

Is it?

Cool pics from Quake 4: Check out my Album

Hey ! I've put up some cool pics of Quake 4 on my blog: My Album

The link is in the side bar .Check them out.

Did I say I would not be updating this page.........due to my mid-sem exams???Never mind . This page will be updated ,forgive me if I dont , there might be exceptions.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Have Exams here ...........so no updates till 20th September

Ah!!!!
Exams .Something ive escaped for 5 months now are back again.
These will be tough ,no doubt.

So friends,this page wont be updated till the 20th os this mnth ,the day when our exams will be over.

Bye! And wish me all the best for my exams.

Kuch to karna hai na ;-)

Monday, September 11, 2006

Reflections???????

Today was a fine day to wake up early and goto college.Mathematics is a class to relax. Then English.This sucks anyway.Not that i dont like the class or the subject .I hate the teacher. She is so boring.Lemme leave it here .This is not what I want to talk about.

The time is 1:30 PM.The time for Electrical Technology Lab. I did not complete my record work. A little of the discussion Q&A were remaining. Fine.Completed them in half an hour and submitted them. "The Great Escape?" I thought.

Completed the lab work and started chit chattin about the state of affairs in IIT KGP. We were thankin ourselves( I was, basically) for being in some good departments without needing to force ourselves to "Department Change" ( Ya there is something like this in all IITs. Very good students are offered a seat of their choice in a any department). Then ,I was thinkin, ain't we lucky to be here in the first place.now again all this competetion here!!! What did we dream to do ....and what are we doing.

Everywhere in India it is the same . What do we plan ,and what do we do. Note the "we". It is ,infact significant.Here in this passage it refers to all my co-citizens,earlier my IIT mates only.

The answer we (again ,a change in reference, me and my IIT mates) gave ourselves " Wait for the second year. Goto hell with this Engg. Drawing ,etc. All we want is excellence in department subjects.In real (Def. - (here)That which can be seen) terms ,it would mean an 'X' grade, i.e 10 credits in/for the subject.

Here,at IIT i think I'm facing life.No one to be blamed except myself. All responsibility is Mine. I am loving it. This is life .....( Actually the title of the post was supposed to be 'Facing Life Here At IIT')

The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You don't blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the President. You realize that you control your own destiny.

Let us see. Until the future unfurls, I keep myself.

Intel's Core 2 Quadro

Intel's new Core 2 Quadro codenamed Kentsfield) features four cores(yes 4!!!)on the processor.It is however not 4 cores on a single die but two Core 2 processors in a single package.However this is enough for this beast to win over all the other competitors hands down.

The fabrication techniques presently available however limit the maximum no. of cores that can be fit in to four.

With the 45nm fabrication processes to be ready by mid-2007,and the envisioned plan of 32nm fabrication thanks to EUV lithography ,Intel might be all set to extend its technological edge over its competitors.

The benchmarks were no less then expected ,creating records in benchmark tests: PCMark05 , 3D Mark 06.

As usual ,Intel processors kick-ass in grapics tests as did this. And again it proved its mettle in the Application and Multitasking tests.

Other processors queued up in shame as the SiSoft Sandra test was conducted. This literally beat the pants off the others.

Here are the technical specifications (taken from Toms Hardware).




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Sunday, September 10, 2006

Goodness me ...........Schumacher is retiring

Michael Schumacher announces retirement at Italian Grand Prix,Monaza.

Michael Schumacher set the scene perfectly with a trademark victory in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza before announcing the end of his record-breaking career.

Formula One’s most successful driver will hang up his helmet for good in Brazil next month after admitting he could not be sure of maintaining his high standards next season.

He had no problems living up to expectations today though and delivered exactly what Ferrari’s home crowd wanted before revealing his retirement.

“You have to find the right moment and we feel this is the right moment,” the 37-year-old said. “This is going to be my last Monza race.

“At the end of this season I have decided with the team I am going to retire from racing.”

Schumacher’s chances of retiring as an eight-time world champion look better than ever after his commanding win from Ferrari successor Kimi Raikkonen today.

He moved to within two points of championship leader Fernando Alonso after the Renault driver retired from third with engine failure.

Ferrari were just digesting that stroke of luck when Schumacher revealed his decision over the radio as he lapped up the adulation of an 80,000 crowd following his 90th win.

After a decade at Ferrari, Monza proved to be an emotional venue to announce his 16th season will be his last.

He said: “It was obviously pretty emotional to take the lap back after the race.

“I was talking to my team and informed everybody of my decision and probably this was the most emotional moment. To finish so well, with such a crowd, just overwhelmed me.”

Schumacher confessed doubts over his ability to continue fighting at the front next year and beyond prompted him to call time on his career.

He added: “It has naturally been difficult in a way but at one moment I simply knew.

“All the effort, all the energy, all the motivation you need in order to be competitive – and that is the only reason I want to be here – I can’t say I’m going to have that for future years. It has been such a good time and there is no point just hanging on.”

However, Schumacher is adamant he is leaving Formula One at the top of his game and does not expect retirement to blunt his competitive edge in the remaining three grands prix.



Schumacher celebrates at Monaza.

What I feel:
He could've continued until he was forty.

Never again will such a great come.
Never again will someone have a chance to win 100 career titles
Never again will someone have a chance to win 100 career races and 10 seasons.


Saturday, September 09, 2006

09/09/06 at IIT Kharaghpur

It was a great day to wake up as for the first time I slept early(1:30AM!!!!!!!!) in the past 5 days.

Woke up at 6:30 am and immediately dashed to the mess. Dissapointed I returned, for it was a saturday and I was told that it would open only at 7:30.Fine, I thought .

After the breakfast,went straight to the NCC class.It was fun. Our Platoon Commander didnt know how to command me for I didnt know Hindi! They taught us about fire extinguishers and regular stuff.Then came back to room and couldn't help having a nap. Then had lunch - the best since I ever came to Kharagpur............it had lots of South Indian items today.Coooool!

It was 1:30 pm. Studied Electrical engineering for some time and then went to "the only source of salvation" for me in the first year :The CIC- Computing and Informatics Centre .Ah got myself a computer and surfing the net.Forfeited snacks for this pleasure and before I realized it was 7:00 pm already. "We have a movie at 8:00 ", a friend shouted on Yahoo Messenger .God! Rushed to a canteen to have dinner.....the guy there took 45 min to prepare it.The food was good , though.Then the movie.Went in 15 mins late. The movie "Corporate" was so good.
The second best i ve seen of bollywood after "Sarkar".

Now,presently back at the CIC, typing away in fury only my second post on this blog waiting for more comments and thinkin of the new developmants to be made .

What about a section saying "Whats hot and whats not at IIT KGP" Make your views known in the comments section.

Friday, September 08, 2006

My First Blog

This is my first blog and i expect my friends and visitors to plz help develop it by comments.....

The stuff that will be put up will deal with news-political and science,computers,and computer games.

I wud like visitors to have discussions with me on scientific projects.....i will definitely like it.

And friends make "Friend demands" so that i get more active and update this with whatever u demand............whatever .

Also see my album.

My Album