The Media Guru

Dec 30, 2009

2009 A review of 2009.

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Dec 25, 2009

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Photos taken at home when I borrowed a friend’s camera for Infotech. :)
Above – tulip Amaryllis

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Nov 24, 2009

SVICC Entrance

Coverage of Infotech 2009, organised by the NCB at Swami Vivekananda International Conference Centre.

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Nov 7, 2009

The teaser trailer for the upcoming series 14 of Top Gear is out!

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Oct 7, 2009

The Lost Symbol

Dan Brown's third novel in the Robert Langdon series, after Angel & Demons and The Da Vinci Code.

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Sep 10, 2009

district_9_poster

Aliens are stranded on Earth, living as … refugees.

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Aug 24, 2009

Nokia_Booklet_3G01_lowres A netbook by… Nokia.

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Aug 23, 2009

mauritian_pyramids_the_fallen

Episode 2 of the saga. Our famous Mauritian Pyramids are now being investigated by Sam Semir Osmanagich.

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Aug 9, 2009

Watchmen

Live-action film adaptation by Zack Snyder of popular comics Watchmen.

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Aug 7, 2009

TGS13E05

Last Sunday's disturbing 7th episode brought an end to the 13th series of Top Gear.

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Aug 3, 2009

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
In one word - AWESOME!!!

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Jul 31, 2009

the_media_guru
Yep, I’ve also caught the template-tweaking bug which is pretty contagious these days… :P Here are the tweaks:

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Jul 28, 2009

090030car-1280
Meet the descendant of the Ferrari F430 – the Ferrari 458 Italia…

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Jul 21, 2009

petfrog_b3
In the June 7, 2004 special issue on technology, Newsweek asked Frog Design to design the Phone of the Future from scratch. & they came up with the petfrog.

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Jul 9, 2009

Google Chrome OS
Google dropped a bombshell on the tech world yesterday. Google services like GMail, GDocs & GTalk went out of beta & Google Chrome OS was announced for release next year.

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Jul 6, 2009

FF3.5 Mozilla released Firefox 3.5 last week, which was to bring the speed boost much-demanded by everyone.

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Jun 28, 2009

Angels and Demons A review of the film adaptation of the popular novel, Angel & Demons by Dan Brown.

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Jun 23, 2009

TGS13E01 - The Stig 2 Top Gear is back... for Series 13!

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Jun 19, 2009

Morro8 A pre-beta version of Microsoft Security Essentials (codenamed Morro) was leaked by Somalian pirates someone. As usual, I took it out for a test… :)

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Jun 15, 2009

5530_xpress Nokia announced 2 new smartphones today - the E72 & the 5530 XpressMusic.

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Jun 14, 2009

Top Gear have done it yet again… Check out the clip… it’s so hilarious that I really had to blog about it! xD

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Jun 12, 2009

image The music video for Linkin Park’s New Divide, official theme song of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has premiered today on the band’s MySpace page. Check it out!

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Jun 9, 2009

iphone-3g-s-20090608 Every year, at around this time, the whole tech world will be affected by the frenzied hyping of one device - the iPhone.

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Jun 5, 2009

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My coverage of Orange Mauritius Expo 2009.
Well, actually it was a little more that just an expo of old telephones. ;)

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Jun 1, 2009

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Microsoft Indian Ocean Islands have organized a contest aimed at students aged 18-25, as part of their software piracy awareness campaign.

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May 30, 2009

HPIM6050

Photos taken in 2004 – actually what comes out when you put a camera into the hands of an ape noob. :)

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May 28, 2009

Man Utd Champions League Runners-up So finally, the 2008-2009 season is over for Man Utd with a 2-0 defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League final. Barcelona managed a historic treble just like Man Utd did 10 years ago.

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May 26, 2009

Microsoft_Office_2010_New_Logo Two weeks ago, Somalian pirates unexpectedly leaked the Technical Preview of Office 2010, which will be released to testers in July.
Being an early (software) adopter, I just couldn't resist trying it... ;)

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May 19, 2009

Linkin Park - New Divide Linkin Park yesterday premiered on LinkinPark.com their new single & theme song for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - New Divide. You can listen to the track on linkinpark.com

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May 16, 2009

Champions (2) Manchester United just needed 1 point to win, & they did exactly that by holding Arsenal to a 0-0 draw, winning their 3rd consecutive & record 11th Premier League title… & the 18th Premiership title, equalling Liverpool's record. ;)

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May 13, 2009

HPIM0100

We are currently facing a crisis of unprecedented proportions – a blogging recession caused by a pandemic spread of exam flu, leading to technical unemployment of bloggers.
To remedy this situation, I’ve decided to initiate a stimulus post.

Random photos taken by my camera throughout its lifetime (2005-2007). Also uploaded on Flickr.
Edit: I didn't noticed this at all, but it's exactly 2 years since I've been blogging! What a coincidence I should publish this post on this day! I didn't plan anything for the 2nd blogiversary! :P

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May 2, 2009

The third theatrical trailer Transformers: Return of the Fallen was released yesterday…. Download HD videos on michaelbay.com

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Apr 25, 2009

tfshowest8

Last week, MichaelBay.com released a video consisting of a scene from the beginning of the film & a montage of mostly CGI stuff… & then pulled it down. Download 720p here (38MB).

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Apr 13, 2009

ferrari_logo

After the last spoof post about a Ferrari 599, it's time for something much more exciting... How many Ferrari supercars do we have in Mauritius? :D

Ferrari F355

800px-Ferrari_F355_Coupé

Probably the first Ferrari in Mauritius & the most popular one in its time as a record 11,273 units were produced. A 1994 model, which even Jeremy Clarkson described as:

The Ferrari 355 is like a quail’s egg dipped in celery salt and served in Julia Roberts’ belly button.

The 355 is very probably the best Ferrari of all time… & of course, if it’s the best Ferrari of all time, it’s just got to be the greatest car… in the world.. ever!

& I've got one at home... I mean a reduced-size model. ;)

Engine: 3.5L V8 - 380HP
0-100km/h: 4.7s
Top speed: 295km/h
Colour: Red
No. in Mauritius: 1

[Wiki Link]

 

Ferrari F430

Ferrari_F430_1

The current top-selling sportscar from Ferrari. Launched in 2005, it’s a typical performance car - short, nimble & very fast. A comparison would be with the Lamborghini Gallardo. Also exists in Spyder version & the lightweight stripped-down 430 Scuderia.

Ferrari F430 is "just about the best car I've ever driven" – Jeremy Clarkson
Engine: 4.3L V8 - 483HP
0-100km/h: 3.8s
Top speed: 317km/h
Power Lap Time: 1:22.9
Colour: Red
No. in Mauritius: 2

[Wiki Link]

 

Ferrari 612 Scaglietti

Ferrari-612-Scaglietti-731345

The family car… xD Yeah, the only 2-door Ferrari coupé with 2 back seats large enough for someone to actually sit on them. Not exactly a stunner, but it’s probably one of the most tame Ferrari. Production started in 2004.

… the most "astonishing" car made that year (2005) – Jeremy Clarkson
Engine: 5.7L V12 - 533HP
0-100km/h: 4.3s
Top speed: 315km/h
Colour: Red
No. in Mauritius: 1

[Wiki Link]

 

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano 

Ferrari599GTB001

Supercar of the Year 2006 by Top Gear Magazine. The 599 is not only a sheer piece of beauty (you can spend the whole day drooling at it) but is the most powerful beast let out by Ferrari as a mass production car. As expected, Jeremy Clarkson describes it best…

Because, as a piece of automotive engineering, the 599 is biblically, stratospherically, crushingly brilliant. Even at normal speeds on normal roads you know that you’re in a thoroughbred. You can feel it straining. You can hear it working. You know that if by some miracle you are presented with a piece of road which is wide and open and free from Rovers and speed cameras, it would deliver a hammer blow big enough to knock down the doors of Fort Knox.

It accelerates with a savagery known only to silly mid-engined supercars or plastic bathtubs from Caterham. It rides on its tall tyres with a composure that’s almost diplomatic in its smoothness. And believe me on this: it looks a trillion times better in the flesh than it does in the pictures. It’s not pretty but it has the brooding presence of a mafia hitman.
Read the rest on JC’s 599 Review. :P

004zv6

This is by far the BEST SUPERCAR in Mauritius. Well, not anymore (check below)...  

Engine: 6.0L V12 - 612HP
0-100km/h: 3.7s
Top speed: 330km/h
Power Lap Time: 1:21.2
Colour: Black
No. in Mauritius: 1 0 (it crashed!)

[Wiki Link]

So we have practically all current Ferrari models in Mauritius (Ferrari California isn't for sale yet & the Enzo is well…). Add the Porsches, the Aston Martins, the Audi R8 & the 2 Godzillas (Nissan GT-Rs), we have a impressive lineup of supercars in Mauritius. The only one missing is a Lamborghini... (See below)

You can check live pics of the supercars on LeConceptCar.com Forum. :)

Update:
Caught on camera from leconceptcar.com forum!!!! xD
Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano – link
Ferrari F430 – link1, link2
Ferrari 612 Scaglietti – link1
Ferrari F355 – link1, link2

&…
Nissan GT-R R35 – link1, link2
Aston Martin – link1, link2, link3


Update - 15.01.2011

You know what this is... Yup. A LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO. In Mauritius. :D
Looks like a 2nd hand base model... Photo credits to whoever took the photos.
More here.

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Apr 12, 2009

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Yesterday morning, an article on L'Express caught my eye. (Click on image to view full-size)
& as soon as I read it, I suspected the following trick might be the one these “genuine forgers” were using...

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Apr 8, 2009

rotange

Bilan of the Internet “price decrease” applied on the 1st of March.

1. Sloooooow connection

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Every night, it's the same story... Between 6 & 11pm, Internet slows to a crawl since usage peaks.
Unless you live in a remote area, or there aren't many peers around you, it's a hair-ripping experience. It's like going back to dial-up. Pages take minutes to load, watching YouTube buffers infinitely. Even Twitter & Facebook take ages to refresh. A slowdown just when you use the Internet the most! Downloading via browser? Forget it, speed is less than 10KB/s. :(

447045853

However, this Monday, I was experiencing the same slowness during the day! After being baffled for a while, the cause of this problem finally dawned onto me - holidays! Yes, the majority of students were at home, leeching all the available bandwidth!! :|
I was expecting this... given how MT doubled our speeds without a major upgrade of the infrastructure - which they are currently doing by installing fibre optic cables. However it'll take some time before these cables come into operation. Till then we are condemned to suffer.

So what can we do? Here are a few tips that may (& may not) work.
- My.T users, avoid the IP 196.20.XXX.XXX When you have this IP, your Internet speed is slower.
- Reset your IP. This gives you 5-10min window where you get top speed, before it returns back to 'normal.'
- Use OpenDNS. When there are more users, it's logical that MT's DNS will be overloaded. Although, I don't see any improvement...
- Be evil. Yes, run 5+ multi-threaded downloads at the same time to suck every kilobyte out of your available bandwidth. It's unfair, but would you prefer downloading at 10KB/s? On my 512k, I get up to 52KB/s by running 5 parallel downloads with 10 threads on Flashget.
- Downloading after 12am? Well, this might concern you...

Communique

 

2. MT's DNS down

PIng

If your livebox isn't connecting, it's probably due to a network or a DNS outage. With more users, the rate of DNS outages has also increased, the most recent one happening last week. In such a case, modifying your network settings in your OS is not enough. You need to change the DNS IPs in the livebox:

DNS Go to Configuration avancée –> Réseau –> Relais DNS
You’ll have to re-configure it every 8h when your IP resets.

 

3. The price "decrease"
ADSL As we all know, the price never decreased, only the speed doubled & quadrupled for 128k. Most 'light' users complained that they never wanted a speed double, as they were satisfied with their previous speed.
However, by scrapping the 128k & 256k offers & maintaining the starting offer at Rs 750, MT kept affordable Internet out of reach of the public. People using dial-up, Nomad 64k - most having a budget less than Rs 500 - have been left stranded.
The reason is... dial-up users are the biggest cash cow of MT. Here's how:
1. Dial-uppers use almost no bandwidth - <56K.
2. Their usage is limited not by amount downloaded, but by time spent (12h)...
3. Since they *always* use more than 12h, they pay Rs0.50/min for excess.
4. Pay-As-You-Go dial-uppers pay even more!!! - 0.57/min (day) & 0.27/min(night).
5. Consider the price-to-bandwidth ratio of dial-up vs ADSL.
- Rs 750 : 512K - Rs1.45/K
- Rs 350 : 56K - Rs 6.25/K!!!!

 

4. My.T Mouse
MYT 512k ADSL users got a special 1Mbps upgrade, not available to the public. & current My.T users had their speeds doubled at the same price, while keeping the 15 channels an option.
New users? They'll be paying My.T more since it's now bundled with 15 useless channels. If they want only the Internet, then it's Orange ADSL. Actually it does make sense that there should be a disparity between the two services. But does the inclusion of 15 boring channels, VOD & a DVB receiver justify this?

 

The Bilan

Users-on-Internet

A speed double - faster downloads, faster browsing & no more buffering. But at the cost of not being able to use the Internet for a few hours. I see no immediate improvement to this situation, at least until the undersea fibre cables connect Mauritius & we can finally dream of a speed on par with the world – 20Mbps?

Note: In 2007, I had a 128kbps connection, in 2008, 256K & in 2009, 512K. So in 2010, I should be getting 1Mbps, right? ;)

Update:
Tushal.net - Mauritius Telecom: The Failure!

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Apr 6, 2009

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Ground-breaking discovery!!! Researchers from the USTFU have concluded that the Mauritian Pyramids are of extraterrestrial origin!

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Apr 5, 2009

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Woohoo! Received a freebie from Rapidshare.com!!!

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Apr 1, 2009

The following post is an April Fool joke. If you're looking for the real 599, here's the post - Ferraris in Mauritius. :)

OMG! I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this... a black Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano!!!

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Mar 28, 2009

Mauritius Summer Time Ends These last 5 months must have been very hard on Mauritians, who typically loathe change. & I'm sure most will rejoice as from tomorrow... because summer time will finally be over!
The aim behind the introduction of Daylight Saving Time was to reduce energy consumption. So how far was this successful?

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