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.