[16 Nov 2008 | Comments | ]
How to mobilize your blog in less than 10 minutes

If there is one technology that has been disruptive and pervasive, it is the mobile phone technology. I’m amazed by the fact that a little over 50% of the world’s population (3.3 billion, by November 2007) are mobile subscribers. The technology has improved to a great extent and we are already in the verge of adopting the fourth generation (also known as 4G or beyond 3G) mobile services.

The latest models of mobile phones flaunt wide-screens and powerful browsers backed by high-speed data connectivity. People have started using their mobile phones to get news updates, cricket scores, live weather, and also for services like blogs, Gmail and Twitter! So, most bloggers and website owners now want to reach out to those audiences who access the internet via their mobile phones.

If I consider 40% (conservative figure) of the mobile subscribers accessing the internet via their phones, I may reach out to quite a few of the whopping 1.3 billion people on the move!!

So, how do I make my blog mobile-friendly? If you’ve a Wordpress blog, you just got lucky..

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Cars, Environment, civic sense, common sense, politics »

[12 Nov 2008 | Comments | ]
How to get maximum mileage out of your car in tropical conditions

There are thousands of articles on the world wide web talking about getting maximum mileage out of your car. Just like the millions of car owners that wanted to get the most mileage out of their cars, I was reading through dozens of ‘how to’ articles on ‘hypermiling’. Hypermiling is a term coined by Wayne Gerdes, and hypermilers are those drivers striving to exceed the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) fuel economy rating of their vehicles.

I’m not going to talk about the cars and their mileage efficiencies in the US and Europe, but in a country like India where one cannot exceed 35-60 kmph inside congested city roads. Also, enormous traffic jams that happen due to the callous..

Asides, Themed PoD »

[10 Nov 2008 | Comments | ]
Church of Our Lady Before Tyn - Themed pic of the day

Prague (Praha) never fails to fascinate you. All eight corners of the old town square of Prague sports a beautiful mix of modern and fourteenth century architecture. Of special mention are those buildings with Gothic architecture. I’m told that Gothic architecture is peculiar in providing asymmetry to the stance of the building, giving the entire structure a surrealistic image - a strange mixture of art, culture and magic.

Take a look at the spire of this church Týnský Chrám, or Church of Our Lady Before Tyn in English..

Asides, Technology »

[9 Nov 2008 | Comments | ]
‘How to’ articles for blogs - How useful are they?

What is the first thing you do after setting up a blog? Well, if you ask me, I usually spend a considerable amount of time (about 4 hours) implementing the theme/layout that best suits the content of the blog. I’m a Wordpress fan, and so spend another hour searching for the best plugins and sidebar widgets that add to the much needed cosmetic and functional aspect of the blog.

When blogs were started a few years ago, they were mostly viewed as an electronic version of one’s personal diary - the only difference being..

Corporate Responsibility, Environment, Technology »

[6 Nov 2008 | Comments | ]
Go green - Electrify the dance floor!

Previously, I’ve written a couple of articles on going green, and how the environmentalists and industrialists worldwide are going crazy about inventing new techniques to contain global warming.

Now, it looks like going Green has been catching up with night clubs all over the world, where they can generate quite a lot of power from those electrifying teenage/middle-aged dancers thumping their feet, consciously or unconsciously, on the dance floor. This is what I call cool technology! The technology behind this may sound very simple, yet it appears to be powerful enough to generate about 60% (not sure if it is theoretical or practical) of the night club’s electricity.

Asides, Themed PoD »

[5 Nov 2008 | Comments | ]
Neuschwanstein castle - Themed pic of the day

We all dream, irrespective of whether we work towards realizing the dream! Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm II, King of Bavaria, popularly known as the fairy-tale King (der Märchenkönig in German), dreamt of a castle so beautiful that it inspired Walt Disney in the twentieth century. People who’ve been to Disneyland Park would have seen the Sleeping Beauty Castle, which is a reflection of King Ludwig II’s dream castle in Neuschwanstein, Bavaria.

When I reached Neuschwanstein, and looked up at the castle built on a small hill, I was in awe!

Environment, Technology, government, politics, society »

[4 Nov 2008 | Comments | ]
Carbon capture and storage - Is the future green-hot for coal?

It is a universal truth that burning of coal is one of the major causes of global warming, acid rain and other toxins in the air. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, about 3,700,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere - by a typical coal plant in an year. It may sound oxymoronic if one talks about using coal and going green. Well, why not? Carbon Capture and Storage, or CCS in short, seems to be the technological answer to this oxymoron!? The US 2008 elections are red hot right now, and many who’ve voted for Obama or McCain are keeping their fingers crossed.