BROWSERS

Well, it's really hard to tell from the title. But I'm going to talk about browsers, especially which is best for whom.
These are the most popular.

1. Mozilla Firefox
2. Google Chrome
3. Opera
4. Apple Safari
5. Internet Explorer

Firefox

Firefox is one of the most widely used web browsers in the world. It's for everybody. Whether you're a developer or a general user it has the right tools for you. Maybe for some, Firefox might not be good as a default browser. But every once in a while Firefox comes to help. Firefox supports almost everything whether if it is a font or a add-on or a tool. So if it's not the best, it's one of the best.

Chrome

Chrome is the best for me. It's simple, it's fast and also has a wide range of extensions to choose from. Since Chrome is installed into application data folder, if it's a shared computer, chrome is good for security as well. But chrome had a problem with some JavaScript, for example twitter is not that much friendly with Chrome. But I'll say for a internet connection of average speed, chrome is the best.

Opera

Well, it's the odd one in the family. Opera 9 was seems to be the slowest browser in it's time. Then Opera 10 was called the fastest browser on earth. Now we have Opera 11. It's actually fast, but with slower connections which I have it doesn't produced that much. But it's features are unmatched. First of all it has a built in mail manager. Without opening a new tab we get a fully functional mail browser. Then 'Opera Unite', a tool that can turn your machine into a file hosting machine. Using Opera Unite we can share any file in our computer with internet without having upload them into a different location (provided by file sharing sites). Then the extensions. They are unique. If you're into web developing or mathematics or something complex, search opera extensions they will have answers. And we can manually add extensions as well. As a way of speaking, I was able to set up Facebook chat as a extension in Opera, so I do not have to log into FB to chat. So when we combine it all,

After I open Opera,

• My mail is online, I can send,receive and read mails without going to a different tab
• My Facebook chat is online, I do not have to go to FB site to see whose online
• My files can be shared with anyone, so I do not have mail them or upload into a sharing site to send my files to a friend.
• And I forgot to mention above that it has turbo (theoretically this will enhance page viewing if your connection is slow, but doesn't seem to have that much effect).

So my conclusion is, if your connection is reliable ( very reliable), opera is the one.

Safari

Well, it's the Posh guys tool. Comes default with Mac OS, but also have a version for Windows. To tell you the truth it's damn slow. I tried with my Windows 7. It seems to have somewhat Ubuntu look. Then I realized that Ubuntu is the one who copied Mac. So there must have something in their browser, but couldn't find out what. It's simply not good enough. So I say if it's not Mac, don't use it.

Internet Explorer

One sentence, "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT". It's slow, it's week and it doesn't support anything (anything doesn't support it). It's the worst browser I've ever seen. The problem is IE only designed for browsing web, you can't do anything else. I think most people will agree with this. It's security is very low. The Microsoft's Windows Live program gives out every password we save on it (save a password in Windows Live and run the software called SIW and point to passwords ->it's be able to decrypt Win live password but will be unable to decrypt passwords from most other softwares). So Internet Explorer shouldn't be far behind.

Personally I have installed Chrome, Firefox and Opera on my computer. Chrome is the default, Firefox is configured with IDM for all the downloading stuff, and Opera for developing and testing purposes.

Dear Miss,, To sir with love!

"You won’t remember me or my name. You have failed so many of us.
On the other hand I have often had thoughts about you, and the other teachers, and about that institution which you call ‘school’ and about the boys that you fail.
You fail us right out into the fields and factories and there you forget us."


Those were the words taken from the book "Dear Miss" which was written by eight school boys from the school of Barbiana in Tuscania, Italy 1967. The boys ask the teacher why they stay silent when they see that students write wrong answers in the exam. If it's their duty to teach students, why? Well, this came to my mind when I'm thinking about what's happening to us in the university. Clearly the industry doesn't care about the GPA as long as they get what they want. So why are we given low grades. The book was a collection of letters written by those boys which has several edition other than the above (Letter to a Teacher). The whole school cheers when the principal announces that the next day will be a holiday. The boys ask why the teachers smile when that happens not knowing that the students hates the teachers, teaching & learning that much. The current education system is a marathon. Education is the secondary outcome. It focuses only on determining who's the first.

On the other hand teachers act as the almighty in the class room. Obviously they won't do it for free. Private or government people pay for them. So treating students with some respect is something teachers should learn. E.R. Braithwaite learnt it the hard way and wrote an amazing book called "To sir with love" which was also converted into a movie later. I'm sure some of you have read it. Ricardo Braithwaite was able to introduce a bunch of untamed students into the society as ladies and gentlemen by treating them as ladies and gentlemen. So what we want is not new teaching methods,  but teachers with the capability to understand the student and teach him how to become somebody (not first).

Being on Line.........................................

   Well, if you all saw the movie "The Social Network" you can remember when all the guys were wired in they keep typing and typing and don't know anything about outside world. To become a professional quickly we also need to do that sacrifice as computer engineers. Well, not exactly the same but we need to be online, always. That's almost impossible. So we need to be online as often as possible.
   Why online? Think of all the support we can get from emails, social networking (Facebook, twitter,  skype), IRC chat, groups (google,yahoo), etc. Most of the FOSS projects maintain their own IRC chat servers and their mailing lists. So to get updated with the currently running projects and techniques we need to join with them.
   But can we do this without screwing up everything else in our life. I think NO. It's not possible. So 'how can we do it' is a question that crossed my mind time to time. So I need a solution to this question. To do this I decided to use the Sherlock Holmes's favourite problem solving method. Getting all the possibilities and removing that are 'cannot be'.
   First of all we cannot carry a laptop with us always and we cannot be near a computer always. But, how about a mobile phone. I think it's a good solution. But can we be online from it. emailing is OK with a mobile. But in order to be online realtime we need to be able chat, send files, .etc. A normal affordable mobile is not capable of fulfilling these requirements. But an androind or a blackberry may do that. But those are expensive. Chat clients like ebuddy or nimbuzz may do the chatting but is not enough. What we need is a multi tasking tool that keeps us online all the time using mobile which does not exist (most probably because the mobile is not enough for a thing like that). The only solution as I see is a smartphone which personally I cannot afford. So I need a solution for this problem from the readers of this blog.
   And also there is another problem as well. When we are online, we lose track of offline world. Personally that always happens to me. So having balance between these two is a big problem. Personally I can't carry out both of these at once. If someone can spin a ball in one hand and understand what's going on in a IRC chat he is the ultimate solution. But I don't think many of us can do that. Why we are lost in the industry I think is because of this. So we need a solution for this as fast as possible. And I hope this blog would drive us towards that solution with all of us working together.

Buying a laptop in Sri Lanka!!!

   Since it a very popular the 'buying a laptop' thing these days I thought of writing something about it. First of all it is Sri Lanka. There are very good laptops as well as very bad laptops, and so are the sellers. In here we do not get a wide range of choices. The business is within few businessmen. You will know this if you go to Unity Plaza. Go thorough every  shop, but you will see only few brands and also few models from those brands. Most surprisingly all those shops will have exactly the same models at a given time. What a coincidence.
   Most the shops get laptops from the same dealer, no one's better than the other. And there warranty, yes it's a real warranty. But bi you have bought a 'Compaq' most probably you've already had experience in claiming it. It takes months. And also it's a one year warranty. If your laptop busts after 1year and 2 months (just happened to me) , there is no escape. So when you buy one make sure the money is worth it.
   First there is HP. It's an averagely good product. Everything in an HP is average good. Most of the time it's reliable and will last long more than three years without any problem. Hp Compaq in other hand is the low cost version of HP. Compaq is one of the worst brands I've ever seen. Very low battery life, and after a year you'll have to replace some parts like battery, screen, keyboard etc. .
   Then there is Dell. Dell is known as a good brand all over the world. But before telling any I should point out that 'Dell Vostro' model is a low cost model and what I'm gonna say is not applicable to them. The touchpad, keyboard, battery etc. all are good in Dell. It's reliable. It's the best brand if someone is looking for a lifetime partner.
  The next in line is Sony. Specially the VAIO, it an entertainment based series. They are extreme performers. The best for gaming I'd say. But they are bit expensive. And there is some probability that the screen may go out early. I'll rate sony between Dell and HP.
   Then the Acer. Same as Compaq. Very low price - very low quality. But if someone is trying to buy a laptop just for typing, surfing, watching films etc. Acer or Compaq may be a good choice.
   Then there are Toshiba and Lenovo which I don't know anything much. Toshiba was used to be a very good brand. But lately I've heard that they are degrading there standards. Don't know how much is true. And Lenovo, since it's kind of new taking off from IBM, cannot still say for sure. But it's pretty clear that the quality of an IBM, cannot be expected from a Lenovo.

   And there is another important point. All the above brands takes parts from OEM manufacturers. They are the very few (about half a dozen) companies who build laptop parts and sell them to other companies. Almost all those companies are situated in China. So there cannot be many distinction between them in durability of the parts. But the different engineering I think, does the difference. From above brands only Dell is producing some of their parts in USA. But most probably they are sent here.
   The brands like Alienware, Asus, Apple etc. are very rare in Sri Lanka. So there is no point in thinking about them unless you plan to go abroad.
   And one important point is, the laptop prices in Sri Lankan market are somewhat higher than the global market. If we check ebay we can see the different. The difference may be 10,000 - 335,000 rupees. That's quite an amount. But cannot do anything about it. Unless, there is someone coming from abroad who can afford to bring a laptop with him. If so, that's the best way.

First of all!

Hello all,

      Welcome to my blog, Utopia. First of all I have to tell you there is no place likeUtopia.There is no ideal community and everything does not happen smoothly. In fact, non of them do. What matters is, to what extend do we expect them to be smooth. The reason for me to start this blog is simply because I don't have a blog. Well, don't be disappointed if you feel like it's a simple stupid joke. It's the truth.
      I had an interview today regarding the engineering training. They ask me what I expect back from the training. So I told them that I have to know about new things.....etc & I want to get in touch with the engineering community. So they ask me whether I have a blog. I said no - they said you should have. So here it is. And I hope to discuss and share technical knowledge as well as any other general things here in my blog.