Sony and Panasonic working together on a 300GB optical media

If you thought the time of the optical disk was over - think again. Especially if you happen to work for Sony or Panasonic.

The two tech giants have announced they they will jointly work to produce the next generation of disks. The new disks will be capable of storing at least 300GB per disk - if not more. Currently the storage limit is of 50 GB hold at the moment by dual-layer blue-ray disk.

As per Sony officials, optical discs have excellent properties to protect them against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored. They also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve. This makes them a robust medium for long-term storage of content.

Mainly aimed at professionals, the disks could be used to back up HD films, move large amounts of data or perform essential maintenance.

Indeed, and to be deliberately generous to Sony and Panasonic, if a flight to New York takes about 7 hours 50 minutes, you'd need a transfer rate of about 10 mb/s to send 300GB of data faster than sticking it on a plane.

Now get alert on your smartphone when satellites are watching you

In the modern era of technology, we are surrounded by a number of satellites in their orbits spying on us 24X7. You never know, when your privacy is being invaded and some satellite is zooming around you, tracking your moves and recording your actions.

In this scenario, a mechanism which may notify us while being watched could be something really great. Sticking to the same need, an smartphone app has been developed in US that tells you when and what imaging spacecraft might be watching you. The app, SpyMeSat, provides notifications when spy satellites and unclassified imaging satellites are zooming above your head and may be taking your picture. 

All of the imaging satellites in SpyMeSat are in low-Earth orbit at an altitude of about 805 kilometres, SPACE.com reported. Enabled SpyMeSat satellites include such zoom-lens notables as GeoEye, the French space agency's SPOT-5, India's CartoSat-2A, DigitalGlobe's WorldView satellites and Canada's RADARSAT-2. 

The idea for the app sparked to Alex Herz, president of Orbit Logic in Greenbelt, Maryland, which developed the app. It was originated while talking to his friends outside the aerospace industry who were always very interested in space and satellites and imaging from space. 

The app uses available public information about commercial and international imaging satellites. It also uses orbit data from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). However, SpyMeSat does not include all imaging spacecraft. No classified imaging satellites, from any nation, have their orbit information published, so these satellites do not show up in the app.

Himalayan yeti(a.k.a. Hima Manava) mystery unveiled

Yetis have been in discussions over a long period of time now. We have seen footprints and other signs of their existence in Himalayan regions but no one has ever seen them alive, though scientists claim that they are still there. Recent research by a British scientist shows that Yetis may actually be a sub-species of brown bear.

DNA tests on hair samples carried out by Oxford University genetics professor Bryan Sykes found that they matched those from an ancient polar bear. He subjected the hair samples to the most advanced tests available. He says the most likely explanation for the myth is that the animal is a hybrid of polar bears and brown bears. Prof Sykes told the BBC that there may be a real biological animal behind the yeti myth.

The sample had a 100% match with a sample from an ancient polar bear jawbone found in Svalbard, Norway, that dates back to between 40,000 and 120,000 years ago - a time when the polar bear and closely related brown bear were separating as different species. The species are closely related and are known to interbreed where their territories overlap.

The hair samples from Laddakh came from the mummified remains of a creature shot by a hunter around 40 years ago, while the second sample was in the form of a single hair, found in a bamboo forest by an expedition of filmmakers around 10 years ago.

What is it like to be a Programmer?

Programmer, as the word defines is someone who programs, who creates solutions to the problems at hand.

Lets go a little dipper into this, what exactly are the problems. Are the problems first of its kind OR its just imitation of another problem solved already by someone at some other corner of the globe(possibly even in your own city). Later being the case, you are not creating any new solution rather re-programming the already programmed solution, provided you discover a better solution for it. But, in most of the cases, it is quite possible that the existing solution itself is even better than the solution you are working on. Do you really think, the work you are doing in that case is programming. Come on, its not even re-programming, since you are not even finding a better way to do it.

Thinking on this particular topic, my attention automatically gets dragged towards the words of dean of electronics engineering at my university. Lets have a brief overview of that incident as well. Being a student of electronics, we were supposed to dedicate more of our time into that but some of us were more keen towards computer. Justifying electronics over computer, electronics dean came with a point which more or less said that software programming is nothing but copy and paste. At that time, we took it as just one of those accusation you get from your professors which you get used to in the course of 4 years. But now, after spending almost 5 years in IT, those lines really seem to be relevant as more than 90% of IT professionals are into this copy and paste task.

Most of us in IT domain, concentrate more on satisfying clients at the earliest, keeping aside innovation. This will definitely achieve short term goals for us but for a while think about long term. What new you achieved with that on a given day, which can make life easier or smoother than before. The answer is NULL(as we say), i.e. nothing. If your answer is any-thing different, you are one among few of those, lucky enough to get into those kinds of work, which can be considered as programming in real sense.

The bottom-line is unless you design something unique or at least better than earlier works, the job you are doing is more like that of a clerk than of a programmer.

Narendra Modi : From a tea vendor to chief minister for record tenure... (one step away from PM)

Narendra Modi completed 12 years of continuous rule as the Gujarat chief minister today. During this 12-years tenur, he not only hard-sold the so-called ‘Gujarat model of development’ but also got himself nominated as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 elections. Modi is the 14th chief minister of Gujarat. According to a government release, “This is a record… No chief minister has served continuously for 12 years.” 

The man who started as a vendor serving tea to customers at a railway station in Gujarat has come a long way in politics after he joined the RSS as a pracharak and later became associated with the BJP. Narendra Modi, the 63-year-old leader was last month anointed as the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar in Mehsana district of what was then Bombay State (present-day Gujarat). He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife, Heeraben. While a teenager, Modi ran a tea stall with his brother around a bus terminus. He completed his schooling in Vadnagar, where a teacher described him as being an average student but a keen debater. He began work in the staff canteen of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC), where he stayed till he became a full–time pracharak (propagator) of the RSS. After Modi had received some RSS training in Nagpur, which was a prerequisite for taking up an official position in the Sangh Parivar, he was given charge of the Sangh’s student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), in Gujarat. Modi organised rallies and covert distribution of Sangh’s pamphlets during the Emergency. During his years in the RSS, Modi came in touch with Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, leaders of the Jan Sangh, who later founded the BJP’s Gujarat state unit. He remained a pracharak in the RSS while he completed his Master’s degree in political science from Gujarat University. In 1998, Modi was promoted to the post of National Secretary of the BJP. Modi was a key strategist for the BJP in the successful 1995 and 1998 Gujarat state election campaigns. 

He first became chief minister of Gujarat in October 2001, being promoted to the office upon the resignation of his predecessor, Keshubhai Patel, following the defeat of BJP in by-elections. Patel’s failing health, allegations of abuse of power and poor administration, the loss of some BJP seats in by-elections, the after-effects of the devastating Bhuj Earthquake of 2001 which his administration struggled to handle, all these factors prompted the BJP’s national leadership to seek a new candidate for the office of chief minister. Modi, who had aired his misgivings about Patel’s administration, was chosen as a replacement. However, LK Advani did not want to ostracise Patel and was worried about Modi’s lack of experience in governance. It was suggested that Modi should be made the deputy chief minister in a government led by Patel. But Modi declined the proposal and told Advani and Atal Behari Vajpayee that he was “going to be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all”. 

On 7 October 2001, Modi was appointed the Chief Minister of Gujarat and was assigned responsibility to prepare the BJP for elections in December 2002. Since then, Modi has led his party, the BJP, to score three consecutive electoral victories, almost pushing the opposition to fringe. In 2002, there was a widespread Anti-Muslim violence throughout Gujarat after reports that a crowd of Muslims had attacked a train carrying mostly Hindu pilgrims and set it on fire near Godhra railway station, burning alive many of the passengers. As riots broke out, the Gujarat administration was accused by the opposition and sections of the media of taking insufficient action against the violence, and even condoning it in some cases. The Modi government’s imposition of curfews, shoot-at-sight orders and calls for the Army to prevent the violence from worsening proved insufficient. In April 2009, the Supreme Court of India appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to inquire into the Gujarat government and Narendra Modi’s role in the incidents of communal violence. The SIT reported to the court in December 2010 submitting that they did not find any incriminating evidence against Modi of wilfully allowing communal violence in the state. In April 2012, the SIT absolved Modi of any involvement in the Gulbarg Society massacre that occurred in 2002. On 7 May 2012, the Supreme Court-appointed amicus curiae, Raju Ramachandran, observed that Modi could be prosecuted for promoting enmity among different groups during the 2002 Gujarat violence. The amicus curiae report has been criticised by the Special Investigation Team for relying heavily on the testimony of Sanjiv Bhatt. 

In March 2012, Modi appeared on the cover of the Asian edition of the Time magazine, one of India’s few politicians to have done so. His leadership was described as being strong and businesslike; one that could guide India towards honesty and efficiency. 

In July 2013, Zakia Jaffri, widow of Ehsan Jafri, alleged that the SIT was suppressing evidence. Soon after, Modi told Reuters an interview that he feels no guilt. He said he was sad about the riots, adding he would be sad even if a “puppy” came under a car. Modi said, “… any person if we are driving a car, we are a driver, and someone else is driving a car and we’re sitting behind, even then if a puppy comes under the wheel, will it be painful or not? Of course, it is. If I’m a Chief Minister or not, I’m a human being. If something bad happens anywhere, it is natural to be sad.” As for his personality, a Wikipedia entry says this: He (Modi) is known for leading a frugal lifestyle. Known to be a workaholic and an introvert, but he is a crowd-puller as a speaker.” 

He also has a proven electoral track record amid controversy. In the aftermath of the Gujarat violence, there were calls for Modi to resign from his position as chief minister of Gujarat. The opposition parties stalled Parliament over the issue. Both the DMK and the TDP, allies of the BJP, also asked for Modi’s resignation, as did Jayalalithaa, the then-Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and leader of the AIADMK. Modi submitted his resignation and the state Assembly was dissolved. In the resultant elections, the BJP, led by Modi, won 127 seats in the 182-member assembly. 

In July 2007, Modi became the longest-serving Chief Minister in Gujarat’s history when he had been in power for 2,063 days continuously. He is currently into his fourth consecutive term as Chief Minister. A media statement issued by the state information department on Monday said, “In the last 12 years, Gujarat has showcased and implemented the policy of development to all and appeasement to none.” “Chief Minister Modi has demonstrated how to face challenges and come out of them successfully. He has converted adversities into opportunities,” the statement added.