The Media Guru

Top Gear Series 14 Teaser Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:15:00 +0000

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

Once again featuring mini-Hammond, mini-May, mini-Clarkson & mini-Stig. The S13 trailers can be found here.

- Airport Vehicles

- South America special (like the previous US, Botswana & Vietnam specials)

- Electric Car

- Roadster challenge in Romania (the Carpathian mountains) – Ferrari California, Aston Martin DBS Volante & Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder.

Aren’t you excited? :P

The Lost Symbol

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:15:00 +0000

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

The Lost Symbol revolves around the secret fraternity known as the Freemasons, guardians of a legendary treasure, the Ancient Mysteries whose location is inscribed on the Masonic Pyramid, hidden somewhere in Washington DC.
Robert Langdon once again finds himself involved in a centuries-old quest to find the Lost Word, which will guide mankind from darkness to enlightenment.

Ancient secrets, a brotherhood, a murderous madman, enigmatic messages, allegories on historical objects & landmarks - sounds familiar, right?
Yes, it has almost the same storyline as the previous two books, but you just don't care. The endless thrills & incredible plot twists make it yet another classic Dan Brown book.

Even though The Da Vinci code had set the bar very high, the fact is that The Lost Symbol has exceeded all expectations. Despite the fast pace of the action, Dan Brown never refrains from providing meticulous descriptions of the surroundings. The fictitious parts are so seamlessly intertwined with the facts that the uninitiated won't be able to distinguish one from the other.
Once again, Dan Brown shows his proficiency at devising cryptic riddles & deriving extraordinary revelations from mundane objects or famous relics.

From start to finish, the reader's emotions alternate between excitement, apprehension, anticipation & finally mesmerisation. The Lost Symbol is a rollercoaster ride which you wish will never stop (& it doesn’t). This book confirms beyond doubt Dan Brown's prowess at writing breathtaking stories.
The Lost Symbol is a true page-turner & it may well become one of the best-selling novels ever.

The Facts & Fiction

Spoiler Warning: Henceforth, this post contains plot spoilers. If you haven't read the book yet, stop reading right now. ;)

Washington DC

The cornerstone of the story is Washington DC, scattered with Masonic monuments built by the Founding Fathers. I'd suggest a quick look on Wikipedia or Google Maps to be more acquainted with the landmarks.
It's definitely no coincidence that the roads were drawn exactly like the Masonic compass & the square...
& if you’re looking for images of all the landmarks, check out this Flickr set – The Lost Symbol.

Liquid Breathing
When it comes to writing plot twists, no one can surpass Dan Brown. In The Lost Symbol, the masterstroke was the drowning of Robert Langdon & then his revival. I was really convinced that Langdon had died until it was revealed that it was a liquid breathing tank.
Of course, such commercial liquid breathing tanks do not exist. Liquid breathing is highly experimental & is only used for diving & medical treatment. :)

Pop Culture
A website – http://www.theintentionexperiment.com
A blog - Future Applications in Computational Metasystem Analysis
& even Twitter… :P

Technology is linking us in ways we never imagined possible: Twitter, Google, Wikipedia, and others—all blend to create a web of interconnected minds.” She laughed. “And I guarantee you, as soon as I publish my work, the Twitterati will all be sending tweets that say, ‘learning about Noetics,’ and interest in this science will explode exponentially.”
Langdon’s eyelids felt impossibly heavy. “You know, I still haven’t learned how to send a twitter.”
“A tweet,” she corrected, laughing.

& there was also an iPhone, considered too user-unfriendly & was eventually crushed. ;)

Noetic Science & Random Number Generators
Our brain is much more powerful than we can imagine, but is it powerful enough to affect our surroundings. In the book, Katherine Solomon scientifically demonstrates the power of the mind over matter.
While rationally, such occurrences are impossible, we can't ignore them either. Psychic phenomena has been demonstrated & there is no logical explanation for the behaviour of the random number generators before 9/11 happened (although they could have been tampered with). Clearly more research is required.
Correlations of continuous random data with major world events (pdf)

Sir Isaac Newton
In all three books, Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code & The Lost Symbol, a major recurrent figure is Sir Isaac Newton (or Jeova Sanctus Unus), respectively as an Illuminatus, the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion & a Freemason (& Rosicrucian & inventor of the Newton Scale).
Who bets that Newton will appear once again in a fourth novel? :)

21g
When I first started reading about Katherine Solomon’s research on weighing the human soul, I was almost expecting this figure to appear. Thankfully Dan Brown didn’t reveal anything, because 21 grams is supposedly the weight of a human soul. Actually, it’s an urban myth originating from Dr. Duncan MacDougall.

The Scriptures
I was expecting a more startling revelation than the Ancient Mysteries being the Scriptures - the Bible, the Vedas, the Quran, etc.
All those efforts only to find out that The Last Word is the Bible? An ending like in National Treasure would have been perfect.
Coming back to the Scriptures, everyone can have their own interpretation of the teachings & derive meanings that suit their objectives. While we still have a lot to learn from them, I doubt they can explain the workings of the universe. ;)

Kryptos

The undecipherable art piece exposed at the CIA was mentioned on the cover of The Da Vinci Code. Although it’s appearance in The Lost Symbol is pretty insignificant – the Kryptos is another map leading to the Ancient Mysteries.

Freemasons in Mauritius

The plot revolves around Freemasonry, where it's revealed that most Masons count among the most affluent & powerful persons. I've always been fascinated by the Freemasons, ever since I heard that they were a secret society.
What do we actually know about Freemasonry in Mauritius? (apart from the rumours that SSR was a Freemason).

Freemasonry was brought in by the French in 1765 & had famous members like the first Governor of Mauritius, Robert Farquhar. The Grand Lodge of Mauritius was constituted on 12th March 2005.
The main role of Freemasonry is philanthropy. Apart from that, we don't know much about their secret initiation ceremonies. The identities of the members are also hidden, but it’s known that they are affluent & hold influential positions.
Contrary to what conspiracy theorists affirm, I do not think that Freemasons hold the reins of this country. :)

Here are a few articles on franc-maçonnerie from L’Express:
- Pierre Notton: “L’Eglise semble avoir oublié cette proximité historique qu’elle avait avec les francs-maçons” – 05/09/2009
- Pierre Lambicchi: “Le creuset de la franc-maçonnerie à Maurice est très fertile” – 22/12/2008
- Franc-maçonnerie: la Loge de la Triple Espérance célèbre son 230ème anniversaire – 19/12/2008
- Maçons frères de l’ombre – 04/07/2008
- La franc-maçonnerie plus transparente – 24/03/2008
- La voie intérieure – 20/05/2005
- La Franc-maçonnerie réaffirme sa présence – 19/03/2005
- Des franc-maçonnes lèvent le voile – 17/11/2004
- Chronique: La Triple Espérance de vie de la doyenne de nos Loges maçonniques – 01/12/2003
- Chronique: La franc-maçonnerie au rendez-vous des transitions révolutionnaires et anglaises (II) – 08/12/2003
- Chronique: La Triple Espérance coincée entre francophiles et anglophiles (III) – 15/12/2003
- Chronique: La Triple Espérance face aux résistances catholiques et britanniques (IV) – 22/12/2003
- Chronique: De la Triple Espérance à la Belle au Bois-Dormant (V) – 29/12/2003
- Chronique: La Triple Espérance aujourd’hui, demain et à jamais – 05/01/2004

Other links:
- The Grand Lodge of Mauritius
- MQ Magazine: An island tale
- MQ Magazine: Mauritius takes a leap forward

P.S. I've looked for the book "La franc-maconnerie a l'ile Maurice" at the UoM library, but it was already lent out. :|

Related links:
@sjdvda also blogged on it - The Lost Symbol

District 9

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:15:00 +0000

Aliens are stranded on Earth, living as … refugees.

Spoiler warning: If you haven't watched District 9, don't read any further. ;)

Before District 9, 90% of alien movies consisted of aliens invading Earth (Transformers, War of the Worlds, Independence Day) or saving humanity (Transformers, Knowing, The Day The Earth Stood Still).
District 9 takes a unique approach towards aliens by depicting them as refugees, racially prejudiced & mistreated by humans. If you're a movie buff, then District 9 is like an oasis in the desert of remakes, sequels, adaptations & all the stereotypical movies.

The Story

An alien ship runs out of fuel & stations over Johannesburg in 1982. With nowhere to go, the aliens are initially given refugee status, allowing them to live in a secluded slum, District 9. However, with growing public discontent & fear of the aliens, the South African government decides to relocate them. In the process, a human, Wikus van der Merwe, is contaminated with alien DNA which triggers his transformation into an alien…

The Prawns

Prawn is the racist term used for the aliens, which look nothing like your common aliens. The closest creature resembling it is the Cloverfield monster. The aliens were initially welcomed, but once the humans discovered that the alien technologies, especially the advanced weaponry, used a DNA-based identification, they were quickly segregated.
Without their leaders, the alien community falls apart & each is left to fend for itself. The inevitable comparison with the apartheid system is in fact correct - aliens are subdued, rationed & extorted (against cat food).
This depiction of alien xenophobia is what makes District 9 so different from other movies.

Christopher Johnson - that's the actual name of an alien. As the story unravels, your disgust of the aliens gradually gives way to empathy. But ask yourself this - don't we treat other humans likewise?

The main character Wikus van de Merwe is brilliantly portrayed by Sharlto Copley. The only drawback was his heavy South African accent, but I've heard worse than that.
District 9 is an action movie filmed like a documentary. Once Wikus starts his transformation, the action is non-stop. But most amazing are the plot twists - you're lured to think that this is the end of it, but instead you're caught off-guard as another action sequence begins.

In terms of special effects, District 9 excels (not that we would expect less from WETA). The aliens are life-like (some wear shirts!) & there are enough explosions to satisfy even Michael Bay. The details on the alien mothership are staggering. The greatest achievement was of course the mech battlesuit. Who'd think the prawns were that intelligent?
People who don't like gore should stay away from District 9 because it contains footage of exploding body parts (both human & alien).

While & after watching District 9, you're submerged with questions - how? why? That's because so many plot details were never explained.
Why did the aliens run out of fuel? Why are they so submissive? How can a human understand alien-speak (essentially clicks & grunts). Is that where a sequel or prequel will come in? Neill Blomkamp said he would make a sequel only if the movie is successful enough…

Verdict

When I first read that District 9 is being produced by Peter Jackson, I suspected this was going to be a nice film. I was wrong. District 9 is AWESOME!
The documentary-styled narration with action, special effects & a unique scenario makes District 9 not only the best sci-fi movie of 2009 (~~I have yet to watch Star Trek~~ Yes, D-9 >> Star Trek!!!), but also one of the best movies of the year. :D
Rating - 8/10

Nokia Booklet 3G

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:41:00 +0000

A netbook by… Nokia.

The Nokia Booklet 3G has just been announced by Nokia ahead of the forthcoming Nokia World. This is probably the outcome of the recent Intel & Microsoft partnerships. I’m left wondering why this hasn’t been leaked before? :|

Here are the specs from AllAboutSymbian:

- Intel Atom Chipset (Z530 running at 1.6 Ghz). No fan, which means near silent running.

- 120 GB hard disk

- 3G/HSPA and WiFi connectivity, plus integrated Bluetooth for local wireless communication

- 12 hours battery life

- 19.9 mm thick x 264 mm width x 185 mm depth

- 1.25kg weight

- 10.1 inch glass HD ready display

- Front facing video camera mounted, on top of the screen, for video calling

- 1 x HDMI port (for HD video out), 1 x integrated SD card reader, 3 x USB ports, 1 x audio port

- Integrated A-GPS

- Stereo speakers mounted on the front right and left corners

- Windows 7

The biggest plus points of this device are the integrated 3G/HSPA & A-GPS, the 720p display with HDMI & the awesome battery life of 12h! 12 effing hours! That’s a huge claim! :P

Of course, the Nokia Booklet 3G will be having the usual Ovi services already available across the mobile platform & it will also run Windows 7! :)

Design-wise, there is no comparison. This looks almost like what Apple could have designed, with an all-aluminium chassis. Check out the video below.

I’ve never been excited by netbooks, but the Nokia Booklet 3G is indeed an exception. However, this is a premium device & I’m also expecting a premium price tag on it… A few other specs also remain unclear – the graphics card, the on-board memory?
I’m definitely looking forward to higher-speced versions of this Booklet. ;)

Here’s the press release:

Nokia Booklet 3G brings all day mobility to the PC world
August 24, 2009
Espoo, Finland - After more than 25 years as a pioneer and leader in the mobile industry, Nokia will bring its rich mobility heritage and knowledge to the PC world with the new, Windows based, Nokia Booklet 3G.
Powered by the efficient Intel Atom processor, the Nokia Booklet 3G delivers impressive performance with up to 12 hours of battery life, enabling people to leave their power cable behind and still be connected and productive. Delivering the rich experience of a full-function PC inside an ultra-portable aluminium chassis, the new mini-laptop weighs 1.25 kilograms, measures slightly more than two centimetres thin, and has the features one would expect from the world's leading mobile device manufacturer. A broad range of connectivity options - including 3G/ HSPA and Wi-Fi - gives consumers high speed access to the Internet, including Nokia's broad suite of Ovi services, and allows them to make the most of every moment and every opportunity.
"A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility," said Kai Oistamo, Nokia's Executive Vice President for Devices. "We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us. Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility and with the outstanding battery life, premium design and all day, always on connectivity, we will create something quite compelling. In doing so we will make the personal computer more social, more helpful and more personal."
The mini-laptop also comes with an HDMI port for HD video out, a front facing camera for video calling, integrated Bluetooth and an easily accessible SD card reader. Other premium features include the 10-inch glass HD ready display and integrated A-GPS which, working with the Ovi Maps gadget, can pinpoint your position in seconds and open up access for a truly personal maps experience. The Nokia Booklet 3G also brings a number of other rich Ovi experiences to life, whether its access and playback of millions of tracks through the Nokia Music Store, or using Ovi Suite to sync seamlessly from your Nokia smartphone, to your mini-laptop, to the cloud.
The Nokia Booklet 3G will widen the Nokia portfolio, satisfying a need in the operator channel, and bringing another important ingredient in the move towards becoming a mobile solutions company.

Update:
Nokia Mini-Laptop site - http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/mini-laptop
AllAboutSymbian - The Nokia Booklet 3G and the Symbian Ecosystem
AllAboutSymbian - Nokia Booklet 3G - slim-laptop with a Nokia twist

The Mauritian Pyramids II: More Than Meets The Eye

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:03:00 +0000

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

Here's the link to part I of the story, if you haven't read it yet:
The Mauritian Pyramids: Origins

World-renowned archaeologist, ~~Indiana Jones~~ Sam Semir Osmanagich has come to Mauritius with the objective of unravelling the secrets of our Pyramids, located at Plaine Magnien.
Despite the conviction of half-witted locals that these pyramids are only stone stacks, Mr Sam Osmanagich thinks that there's more to them than meets the eye. ;)
Indeed he has an impressive resume of archaeological discoveries to back this claim - he discovered the Bosnian Valley of Pyramids and wrote that Mayan pyramids have alien origins, some of them being inter-dimensional portals.
Here is his preliminary report: - Pyramids in Mauritius: Sweet News From The Sugar Cane Fields in Mauritius! [PDF – 1MB]
Website: – www.semirosmanagic.com
Wikipedia: - Semir Osmanagić

The earth-shattering idea that our pyramids are inter-dimensional portals raises unexplainable questions. Who are this advanced alien civilization? Why would they want to build portals on Earth, in Mauritius. Are they peaceful?
All we can hope is for Sam Osmanagich to succeed in his enterprise. We may well be at the brink of the greatest discovery in the history of mankind...

Article in L’Express Dimanche 23 August 2009

PYRAMIDES DE PLAINE- MAGNIEN
Un illuminé bosniaque réinvente l’histoire
Il se dit découvreur de pyramides. Semir Sam Osmanagich est venu présenter ses recherches sur les “meules” de Plaine- Magnien. Il veut prouver que ces constructions datent d’avant le passage des Arabes dans l’île, vers le 16e siécle…
Comme un goût de déjà vu. Il y a trois mois, Antoine Gigal, auteure et journaliste spécialiste de l’Egypte, affirmait la présence de pyramides à Maurice. Elle ne s’était pourtant même pas rendue sur le terrain.
Cette fois, c’est Semir Sam Osmanagich qui vient apprendre aux Mauriciens leur propre histoire. L’Indiana Jones bosniaque a voulu réunir la presse mercredi.
Dans la salle de conférences du Laguna Beach Hotel & Spa, le chercheur a posé son chapeau sur la table. Il attend, fébrile, non pas un public qui se calme mais que cet auditoire arrive. Trois-quarts d’heure plus tard, après de nombreux coups de téléphone désespérés, il se résout à commencer.
Devant un public de… six personnes! Il débute par une présentation de pyramides découvertes à travers le monde.
Parmi, celle qu’il a découverte en… Bosnie! Fière présentation. Sauf qu’il omet de préciser que cette découverte lui a valu d’être discrédité et critiqué dans le monde de l’archéologie. Il enchaîne sur les mesures et caractéristiques des “meules” de Plaine- Magnien.
Voilà le résultat de recherches intenses qui ont commencé... deux jours plus tôt, avec son épouse. Ces “études poussées” lui permettent d’affirmer que ces tas de pierres sont en fait sept pyramides, auxquelles il a donné des noms. Trois d’entre elles sont alignées, “presque dans l’axe du soleil lors du solstice d’été.” Toutes auraient été construites par un peuple de navigateurs itinérants. Ceux-là auraient produit leurs œuvres dés avant l’arrivée des Arabes vers le 16e siècle... Pour plus de précision sur une découverte de cette importance, il faudra repasser!
Sites médiévaux détruits
Dans notre édition du 19 mars dernier, les historiens mauriciens avaient déjà réfuté les théories d’Antoine Gigal. “Au fur et à mesure que l’on a défriché les terrains pour la culture de la canne, l’on s’est trouvé face à des tas de pierres. On les a rangés selon leur quantité,” affirmait Yvan Martial, journaliste et historien.
Guy Rouillard, historien et écrivain précisait également qu’à Plaine- Magnien, “c’est en 1944, lors du rachat d’Union-Vale par la compagnie sucrière Mon-Trésor-Mon-Désert, que l’on a épuré les terrains et entassé les pierres en forme de pyramides.” Cette fois, l’historien n’a pas voulu commenter la théorie de Sam Osmanagich, tant il la trouve absurde. De son côté, Satyendra Peerthum, chercheur et historien, affirme que “c’est une idée farfelue! Ces gens arrivent à Maurice sans aucune connaissance de notre culture et sans preuves scientifiques de ce qu’ils avancent.” Cette conférence est l’exemple même du manque de rigueur dans les travaux du chercheur et dénoncé notamment par le très respecté Archaeology Magazine. Sam Osmanagich est d’ailleurs soupçonné par deux scientifiques américains d’avoir détruit d’authentiques sites médiévaux lors de ses fouilles en Bosnie. Des critiques illustrées lors de la présentation faite par le chercheur lui-même, lorsqu’apparait une photo des mesures des pyramides entreprises… au mètre de couturière ! Mais Sam Osmanagich n’en démord pas.
Lorsqu’on lui demande une réaction sur les critiques dont il fait l’objet, c’est avec une grande humilité qu’il répond: “Lorsque quelqu’un, comme moi, fait la plus grande découverte du 21e siècle, il s’attend à des critiques venant de ces universitaires dérangés de devoir changer les livres d’histoire.”

Semir Sam Osmanagic révélé
Il est né le 3 février 1960 en Bosnie Herzégovine. Titulaire d’un diplôme à l’université de Sarajevo, Semir Sam Osmanagic devient “chercheur de pyramides” et écrit plusieurs livres sur le sujet. Il s’installe à Houston aux Etats- Unis et, depuis quinze ans, parcourt le monde à la recherche de vestiges, plus particulièrement de pyramides antiques. Ses travaux portent d’abord sur les pyramides précolombiennes en Amérique du Sud. Il se fait alors remarquer en invoquant l’origine extraterrestre de ces constructions. Il a notamment déclaré dans son ouvrage The Mayan World, paru en 2005 : “Les Mayas étaient des gardiens du cosmos, dont la mission était d’ajuster la fréquence de la Terre par rapport aux vibrations du Soleil. […] Les temples de leurs ancêtres, les Atlantes, ont été érigés en des points précis de la planéte afin de servir de portail pour d’autres mondes et d’autres dimensions.” Son plus gros travail porte, depuis 2006, sur une pyramide qu’il aurait déterrée en Bosnie. Cette découverte annoncée est néanmoins très controversée et plusieurs universitaires et magazines respectés rejettent la théorie de celui qu’ils qualifient d’affabulateur.

Update:
On the contrary, Week-End thinks there’s some truth in the Pyramids being more than just Pyramids – Week-End 23 August 2009

Les pyramides de Plaine Magnien refont débat
Après l'égyptologue Antoine Gigal, Sam Osmanagich, un chercheur américain, recommande qu'elles soient officiellement protégées pour leur pertinence planétaire
"Les sept pyramides de Plaine Magnien nécessitent un statut protégé de la part du gouvernement parce qu'elles ont une signification planétaire". Ce n'est pas n'importe quel profane qui l'affirme, mais bien un chercheur américain dans le domaine, du nom de Sam Osmanagich. Ce chercheur et auteur, qui détient un PhD en Histoire des civilisations, chercheur de pyramides de Houston, Texas (USA) et également membre de l'Académie des sciences naturelles de Russie et de la Société archéologique d'Alexandrie (Egypte), est venu spécialement à Maurice cette semaine pour faire un constat des lieux.
Animant une conférence de presse mercredi dernier au Laguna Beach Hotel de Grande Rivière Sud-Est, Sam Osmanagich a communiqué ses conclusions et recommandations concernant ces pyramides comme suit (nous les reproduisons en anglais) :
"Seven man-made step pyramids were built from the volcanic rock. Their geometry is regular, with four triangular faces, leveled base, shaped corner stones, same orientation, carefully planned construction which required more than 30, 000 tons of material. Such an engeneering project would need work of 100 men during a 5-year period. Origin of the pyramid, their builders, time of building or purpose is unknown at this moment. The pyramids were not build by recent civilisations (Europeans XVI-XIX century or Arabs X-XI century), but much earlier.
These structures need to obtain protected status by the proper Government bodies because of their global significance. Their similarities in design and execution with the pyramids on Canary Islands, Central and South America is striking. Mainstrean scientific view about the pyramid building process has to be changed. In Mauritius, we potentially have the first case of advanced sea-faring civilisation who build the structures."
Sam Osmanagich a recommandé qu'une équipe interdisciplinaire composée d'archéologues, de géologues, géophysiciens, géodésistes et d'experts en géoradars locaux et étrangers soit constituée pour continuer à enquêter sur les sept pyramides. Toujours selon Sam Osmanagich, un espace limité devrait être réservé autour des pyramides, celles-ci devraient être remises en état et un info desk aménagé en vue d'encourager le tourisme archéologique à Maurice. Selon le chercheur, avec un minimum d'efforts de marketing, un important site pourrait être dégagé qui pourrait attirer encore un plus grand nombre de touristes dans notre pays.
Il est dommage que Sam Osmanagich ait fait une visite éclair chez nous car il aurait été fort intéressant de le confronter à d'influents sceptiques - dont certains avaient pris un ton savant - qui se sont empressés pour ridiculiser les premières informations que Week-End avait reprises, en avril dernier, d'une revue spécialisée française dans lesquelles une égyptologue, Antoine Gigal, faisait état, et ce pour la première fois, de la présence de sept pyramides sur le sol mauricien.
L'histoire des civilisations s'appuie généralement sur la base de documents écrits. Mais, sans jamais en avoir produit un seul jusqu'ici, les sceptiques - qui se reconnaîtront - ont affirmé que la construction des "pyramides" en question remontait vers le milieu des années 1940 et fut l'œuvre d'un cadre de l'industrie sucrière. On réalisera donc combien Sam Osmanagich, qui a, sans doute, eu quelque connexion avec l'égyptologue Antoine Gigal, engage en quelque sorte sa crédibilité de chercheur.
Quoi qu'il en soit, que ce soit eux (Osmanagich et Gigal) ou leurs détracteurs locaux qui aient finalement raison sur l'origine de ces pyramides, personne ne pourra non plus contester le fait que ce fut un jeune photographe Mauricien, en la personne de Stéphane Mussard, qui a su susciter l'intérêt international - justifié ou pas - autour de ces pyramides de Plaine Magnien.
Avec la permission de Stéphane Mussard d'ailleurs, nous reproduisons dans cet article une photo aérienne, magnifique, qui montre les sept pyramides de Plaine Magnien. On notera leur alignement parfait, comme c'est le cas pour les pyramides des îles Canaries et d'ailleurs. On peut effectivement s'étonner d'une telle similarité…

Megalithic walls and hydraulic systems linked with Mauritius pyramids

Antoine Gigal reports on the discovery of massive walls, hydraulic systems and road systems on the island of Mauritius, which are connected with the pyramid complexes that have been rediscovered there in recent months. It highlights that this area of the island once hosted a civilisation worthy of that name.

Yet more evidence that our island was once inhabited by alien life-forms… The pictures below shows evidence of a non-man-made launch pad & strange hieroglyphs on tombs…
Read the rest of this highly [in]credible report here. :|

Update:
Article from News on Sunday:

Lecture on archeology
The University of Mauritius organised a public lecture on Archeology and the Public, to analyse the public perception of archeology in the 21st century in Reduit on August 26. The guest speaker, Prof. Geoffrey Summers, University of Ankara, showed a broader look of Archeology and also commented on Archeology and the Mauritian public.

The lecture was an opportunity for Prof. Summers to explain to the public present the importance of the historical sites in Mauritius such as Ile de la Passe and the Aapravasi Ghat. He emphasized the preservation and conservation of these sites for the future generations.

During the talk, Prof. Summers pointed out that the seven pyramids found in sugarcane fields in Plaine Magnien were not the tombs of pharaohs in Mauritius but rather, they were built by labourers to clear the fields.
Note that Prof. Summers is a very famous personality in the world of Archeology. He directed the Kerkenes project, an innovative remote sensing survey and exacavation of the largest pre-hellenistic capital in Turkey. Recently, he was decorated by Queen Elizabeth II for his services rendered to the field of Archeology.

Update 2:
Article in L'Express Dimanche 30th August 2009

Les meules de Plaine-Magnien sont-elles des pyramides?

“Les pierres de Plaine-Magnien sont listées au patrimoine national sous le National Monuments Act de 1985.” - Satyendra Peerthum
“Elles sont visibles depuis des vues satellites avec une très grande précision.” - Rémy de Saint-Simon
Pour Rémy de Saint-Simon, un Français passionné d’archéologie et membre de l’association Giza for Humanity, des pyramides ont été construites à Maurice par une civilisation ancienne. Face à lui, Satyendra Peerthum, historien et chercheur à l’Aapravasi Ghat. Pour lui, il s’agit de structures de pierre construites dans les années 1940 par des travailleurs mauriciens.
Satyendra Peerthum: Les structures de pierre de Plaine-Magnien ont été dressées par les travailleurs de Mon Désert Mon Trésor Sugar Estate. Il s’agit de roches volcaniques qui ont été déterrées lorsqu’on a défriché les terrains pour en faire des champs de cannes à sucre. Une longue tradition des compagnies sucrières mauriciennes datant du milieu du 19e siècle, durant lequel les travailleurs entassaient ces roches volcaniques en forme de pyramides.
Rémy de Saint-Simon: Ces pierres comme vous dites ne sont pas entassées, mais édifiées. Elles sont visibles depuis des vues satellites avec une très grande précision, et comportent des angles absolument parfaits démontrant que les pierres sont taillées et placées avec intention.
D’autre part, Antoine Gigal, spécialiste de l’Egypte, a montré les milliers de clichés que nous avons faits des pierres de ces pyramides à des géologues experts. Ces derniers n’ont pas hésité à dire que “certaines de ces pierres semblent provenir de roches ignées d’une autre nature que la lave et accréditent le fait qu’elles ont peut-être été transportées d’une autre zone jusque-là.”
S. P.: Les cartes se trouvant au Mauritius National Archives du district de Grand-Port montrent clairement l’absence de structures pyramidales à Plaine-Magnien à cette époque. De plus, Guy Rouillard, historien mauricien âgé de plus de 80 ans et auteur de L’Histoire des Domaines Sucriers de l’Ile Maurice, a récemment précisé que les “pyramides” de Plaine-Magnien ont été construites dans les années 1940. Par ailleurs, plusieurs Mauriciens ayant vécu et travaillé sur la propriété sucrière de Mon Désert Mon Trésor se souviennent de la construction de ces structures de pierre à Plaine-Magnien. Enfin, depuis plus d’un siècle, les Mauriciens effectuent des recherches historiques sur leur pays et aucune, jusqu’à présent, n’a révélé la construction de pyramides par des Egyptiens.
R. de St-S.: Il n’a jamais été question des Egyptiens. Il pourrait bien plutôt s’agir, comme l’a écrit l’exploratrice Antoine Gigal en détail dés son premier article, d’une ancienne civilisation, de grands navigateurs comme les fameux “Peuples des mers,” comme des proto-Canéens et des proto-Phéniciens. Le faisceau de données que nous avons aujourd’hui et le regard de nombreux experts nous portent à croire que ces structures sont très anciennes, à l’instar de celles de Tenerife et de Sicile, parfaitement semblables.
C’est pourquoi il nous faut les étudier et les analyser scientifiquement maintenant. Rien que le fait que des ensembles de pyramides à étages parfaitement similaires se retrouvent à des milliers de kilomètres les unes des autres est un fait incontournable que l’on se doit d’étudier.
S. P.: Le fait que les pyramides de Plaine-Magnien ont une «certaine ressemblance» avec celles de Tenerife n’est pas surprenant dans la mesure où des step pyramids existent dans plusieurs anciennes civilisations comme l’Egypte, l’Iraq, le Mexique ou encore le Pérou.
Elles ont été construites par ces civilisations locales. Les structures de Plaine-Magnien ont été construites par des travailleurs mauriciens et supposer qu’il en a été autrement c’est sous-estimer leurs réalisations et durs labeurs! Comment une civilisation a-t-elle pu pénétrer Maurice à cette époque, une île qui était une forêt dense, voir impénétrable?
R. de St-S.: Les civilisations mayas et aztèques ont des pyramides construites au cœur de forêts denses, cela n’a jamais été un empêchement. On sait aussi que les pyramides égyptiennes étaient entourées d’une nature luxuriante à l’origine.
Des plaques apposées sur les pierres mentionnant que les pyramides sont protégées par le National Monuments Board sont la preuve qu’il y a quelques années, des officiels de ce bureau ont voulu préserver ces pyramides, les jugeant dignes d’un grand intérêt.
S. P.: J’ai travaillé en tant qu’officier technique au National Heritage Fund en 2002 et 2003. Je peux confirmer que ces plaques ont été apposées il y a plusieurs années par le National Monuments Board.
Les pierres de Plaine-Magnien sont listées au patrimoine national sous le National Monuments Act de 1985 et amendé par le National Heritage Fund Act de 2003. Car elles représentent une rare structure de pierre érigée par des travailleurs mauriciens et non pas parce qu’elles ont été construites par une civilisation ancienne. La question clé est de savoir pourquoi il y a des milliers d’années, une civilisation ancienne a effectué des milliers de kilomètres vers Maurice pour construire des “pyramides” dans une forêt dense? Franchement, du point de vue d’un historien, cela défie la raison et la logique humaine!
R. de St-S.: Les Phéniciens étaient déjà des constructeurs de temples astronomiques parfaitement alignés. C’est pourquoi les pyramides mauriciennes parfaitement alignées aussi pourraient bien être des observatoires astronomiques et auraient pu servir aussi à un culte solaire que l’on retrouve dans ces ethnies. Nous sommes sans nul doute à l’aube d’une reconnaissance nationale et internationale d’un patrimoine d’intérêt majeur pour nos civilisations passées et actuelles. Il est résolument de notre devoir à tous de faire connaître ce trésor antique mauricien…

How would you react if, say someone goes to France & claims that the Tour Eiffel was actually built by… Templars? :P

Watchmen

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:16:00 +0000

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

Watchmen, in its director's cut version is exactly what I had expected from a film adaptation. The story sticks religiously to the original scenario, the same angles, the same shots, the same panels! Almost as if the comics are brought to life.

Once you add the film extras, Tales of the Black Freighter and Under the Hood, it's a perfect homage to Watchmen, which in its time was a radical departure from other superhero comics.

However, the only diversion from the original story is that there is no alien invasion engineered by Ozymandias, the common enemy being Dr Manhattan. Many things are left unexplained - what exactly is Dr Manhattan's machine, his energy, how is it detonated in the world's cities?

As I had long suspected, Nite Owl is indeed a copycat of Batman, similar technologies (Archie, owl siren, night vision, cave-like hideout), similar suits & even has an owl version of the batarang! :P
If you've liked the comics, you'll absolutely love the film. ;)
Rating - 7.5/10

Knowing

A film which started on a doomsday prediction from the past turns into an alien rescue mission. You could see right through the special effects - the plane & train crash instead of terrifying you, makes you say "duh." It was a good story, but the under-par acting from Nicholas Cage & the lack of a final plot wrap-up ruined it. Knowing is a watch-once-&-forget-it sci-fi movie.
Rating - 6.5/10

Fast and Furious 4

The story of Fast and Furious is situated in between 2Fast2Furious & Tokyo Drift, with (one of my least favourite actors) Vin Diesel back. The story looks like a rerun of 2Fast2Furious - Dom & Brian participate in a race where the winner will form part of a drug smuggling ring between US & Mexico. To be frank, I didn't like the movie. The cars weren't that exciting & the races were boring, especially those tunnel scenes that had too much CGI. Of all films in the Fast and Furious series, this one is the worst. :|
Rating - 6/10

Twilight

After watching this movie, I can confirm that there is nothing exceptional in it. It's an average story with somewhat irritating acting & lines. All the hype can be attributed to tweens with pea-sized brains, hooked on Miley Cyrus's songs. Best moment in the film was the final vampire battle, which turned out to be a one-and-a-half-minute duel.
Only positive thing is that they used Linkin Park's Leave Out All The Rest in the ending credits. :)
Rating - 6/10

Dragonball Evolution

If you are a Dragonball fan, stay away from this movie! & if you are not a Dragonball fan, make as if you never ever heard of it!
This movie slaughters the very essence of the Dragonball saga, right from the story to the characters. Piccolo would have looked scarier wearing a Halloween mask (or even a surgical mask) rather than that horrible make-up bought off eBay. Goku's transformation into Ozaru almost made me puke. :'(

The post-credits ending sealed my conviction that this was the worst movie I've seen this year! :|
Rating - 2/10 (2's only for the cute chicks)

Banlieue 13 Ultimatum

Banlieue 13 is the best French film I've seen and B13-U comes very close to replicating its success. Again it features the same free-running & the martial arts action. You'll love it for the action, but the big let-down was the story - it's almost the same as the last one. The authorities want to destroy district B13 & the good guys convince the bad guys to stop it.
Rating - 7/10

Top Gear - Series 13

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:54:00 +0000

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

Was it the budget cuts? Or was it triskaidekaphobia? All Top Gear fans will agree that S13 was definitely one of the least exciting series.

Episode 1 started off with a bombshell - a car vs motorbike vs train epic race. Followed by Ferrari FXX posting an incredible time around the track – 1:10.7.

Then there was the massive stunt that was the unveiling of The Stig as some bloke called Michael Schumacher. Review of the Lotus Evora was ok.

Some say he invented the curtain… And that he recently submitted a £20,000 expenses claim for some gravel... for his moat. All we know is, he's called The Stig.

Episode 2 was still great with a superb review of the Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SV (same time as an Enzo!) & a drag race against the McLaren SLR 722.

Followed by a very funny cars-for-17-year-olds. James May's stereo hack was awesome! :D

An epic race - Bugatti Veyron vs McLaren F1, a bit too short to my liking.

Some say that last week, he was found locked in a room tied to a chair with German piano wire… And that this week, MPs turned him down for the job of Speaker. All we know is, that's three things he has in common with Margaret Beckett.

Things started to go downhill as from episode 3 with that cheap car challenge where the only funny bit was the dog challenge. Clarkson's review of the Mercedes SL65 AMG BLK was good.

The only highlight was James May's meet up with FaceTube & YouBook celeb, Ken Block in his Subaru Impreza.

Some say that he thinks crisps are animals… And that if he'd done well at Wimbledon once in a while, he might have been able to raise a smile. All we know is, he's called The Stig.

Episode 4 was bad with the boring Ford Focus RS vs Renault Megane R26.R. The Porsche Panamera vs letter on Royal Mail race had a predictable outcome.

Jeremy's Mitsubishi Evo vs British army with "live" fire was obviously scripted & looked straight off one of Jeremy's DVDs.

Some say that he's absolutely baffled by urinals... And that on reflection, this was a bad week to launch his debut Single; it's a tribute to Farrah Fawcett. All we know is, he's called The Stig.

Episode 5's only positive point was the Jag XFR review. The rear-wheel drive challenge didn't please me because it looked still too pre-arranged, especially the piano crashing the Morris Marina.

Jeremy's Range Rover & greenhouse trailer was outright stupid!

Some say he has 12 GCSEs, all in Domestic Science... And that he's been producing artificial sperm for years, even though we have repeatedly asked him not to. All we know is he's called The Stig.

The classic car challenge brought back life to Top Gear, reminiscent of previous great challenges. All the hosts got a perfectly suited co-driver, with James May coping with model Madison Welch.

Episode 6 also had the BMW Z4 & Nissan 370Z review, spiced up by animatronic dinosaurs.

Some say that on Thursdays, he becomes incredibly bulbous… And that recently, pigs in Mexico have started to die of something called Stig flu. All we know is he's highly contagious.

Episode 7 started with an uninteresting Vauxhall VXR8 & the Maloo review by Hammond. The car ad challenge was entertaining, with Jeremy Clarkson insisting on adding explosions every time - like Michael Bay. :P

It finally ended with that totally un-Jeremy-Clarkson review of the second best supercar in the series - the Aston Martin V12 Vantage.

Nothing was said about the car. But I confess that it took me by surprise - that was the best piece of cinematography I've seen on Top Gear. The shots of pristine nature were of such beauty that it'll even put National Geographic to shame.

“I just have this horrible, dreadful feeling that what I’m driving here is an ending. Goodnight.”

Some viewers thought that it was the ending of Top Gear... :|

Some say that he cut that man's hair… And that if he compensated a soldier for getting wounded, he wouldn't try to take it all back again. All we know is he's called The Stig.

Compared to previous series, SIARPC had more widely-recognised celebs than before - The Stig, Jay Leno, Usain Bolt, Sienna Miller, Stephen Fry.

But what really annoyed me was that many segments shown on the preview weren't shown in any of the episodes! Audi R8 V10 vs Corvette ZR1.

Airport vehicles!

To sum up, if I had to put Series 13 on the Cool Wall, I suppose it would be somewhere in between cool & uncool.
If you're a new Top Gear fan, do not judge it from S13. I would rather recommend you to watch Series 10 or the Vietnam Special.

Download links for Top Gear S13 + H.264 Webrips + Out takes (Rapidshare)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:36:00 +0000

In one word - AWESOME!!!

The premiere for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was held on Tuesday 28th July 2009 & I went to see it the next day (& so did @__Sun__, @sjdvda & @tushal).

Ever since I watched Transformers (my first movie I downloaded), I knew if there was to be a sequel, it just had to be bigger, better, longer & have more explosions... & more Megan Fox! So my expectations were huge, as was my anticipation.

On its release, critics unanimously bashed the film, while the public had only one reaction - awesome! Transformers: Revenge of Fallen is up to now the highest grossing movie of 2009, with total earnings excess of $800 million.
If it was really that bad, how could it have been such a massive success?

After watching the film, there's no doubt that the critics were barking up the wrong tree.
If you were looking for drama & great acting, watch a Martin Scorsese or a Clint Eastwood! Adventure? Steven Spielberg. Dialogues & elaborate plot? Christopher Nolan. Epic movies? Peter Jackson or Ridley Scott.
But for action, explosions & CGI, there's only one man - Michael Bay!
Transformers was all about robots fighting each other. & T:ROTF gives you what you always wanted - more robots fighting each other!

The Story

The story is pretty straight-forward - the Fallen needs the Matrix of Leadership to activate a Sun Harvester on Earth to produce Energon - the energy that sustains the Transformers.

When Sam touches a shard of the All Spark, he has visions of the location of the Matrix, which actually is a riddle. The Decepticons revive Megatron & hence begins the search for the Matrix of Leadership...

Overall the story is much darker, has less humor than the first film, especially after Optimus Prime dies. Wheelie was way funnier than the Twins. There are very few quotable lines & not much character development of the humans & the Transformers. Many of them are left unnamed, which may lead to confusion. Sideswipe, Arcee & Jolt have less screen time than the Twins or Jetfire.

Original Transformers fans won't like the plot because of the great diversions from the original story (just like I hate most of the Harry Potter movies).

The CGI

T:ROTF is the movie with the best CGI ever. ILM have outdone themselves with the transformations & action scenes! From the intricate details on Optimus Prime's Peterbilt truck parts, the emotions on Bumblebee's face to the eye-popping transformation of Devastator, it's a visual feast from start to finish. Mind-blowing stuff!

Anyone spotted the R2-D2 in the movie? (Will need to watch the 720p to spot that)

The Action

The prologue - NEST (Networked Elements: Supporters and Transformers or Nonbiological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty) hunting Decepticons in Shanghai. A Terex RH-400 transforming into Demolishor. An Audi R8 (Sideways) is chased by Arcee & then sliced by Sideswipe.

Optimus Prime then makes his grand entry & takes down Demolishor! & that was just a teaser... that left everyone drooling in the cinema.

Can anyone suggest a better action movie than T:ROTF? Because there is none! Even if you didn't like the plot or the dialogues, there's no way you weren't mesmerized by those fight sequences that make you go... OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

One thing you don't miss in Michael Bay movies is explosions! It surpasses even the Dark Knight's blowing up of Gotham's Central Hospital. T:ROTF set a Guinness Book Record for the biggest explosion on film with actors present.

The Scenery

Although that's the last thing you'd expect from Transformers, the Petra & Pyramid scenes were fantastic. The last time I saw Petra in a film was in Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade. T:ROTF was one of the rare movies which got permission to film on the Pyramids & to have aerial shots of it.

But what topped it off was Optimus Prime standing next to the Sphinx!

Optimus Prime

In T:ROTF, Optimus Prime played a much more crucial role. Right from the start with that wonderful intro scene to the forest fight, where he bravely takes on 3 Decepticons at the same time & sacrifices himself to save Sam.

& when he is resurrected into the much stronger “Jetfired” Optimus Prime that effortlessly kills the Fallen - that leaves little doubt that the star of T:ROTF is indeed Optimus Prime.

Megan Fox

Isabel Lucas

The other hot asset of T:ROTF. Too bad she was killed. ;)

The Soundtrack

Despite all the on-screen action, I still managed to keep track of the background score. There were gems like Prime & Tomb of the Primes & of course parts of New Divide. & finally, at the end of the film came the moment I was most waiting for, the complete track of New Divide! Superb achievement from Steve Jablonsky & Hans Zimmer.

Faults?

The only thing that sucked in this film was that it was in French. I tried hard to find mistakes, but there's not much.
- According to moviemistakes.com, T:ROTF has the most mistakes than any other movie. But frankly, when you are so engrossed in the action, you never notice these! You can check the trivia here.
- The General Morshower that was watching over NEST is the same general who was at the Qatar base when it was attacked by Blackout, leaving no survivors.
- Footage from the first film was used for two scenes - the Predator flying & protoforms travelling through space.
- In the forest scene, that's not Blackout revived, but it's another Decepticon Grindor.
- How come Bumblebee never recognises Alice as a Pretender? It seems to me that Transformers are undetectable by other Transformers when they go in camouflage mode. Only humans can detect them via radioactive signature.
- Why does the AllSpark transforms machines into Decepticons? Remember that all of Earth's technology was reverse-engineered by studying Megatron.
- According to the prequel novels, The Fallen was trapped in another dimension. But the movie shows him trapped in the crashed spaceship on a planet. Probably the explanation lies in the novelization.
- Jolt (Chevrolet Volt) is not seen much throughout the movie, except for the crucial Spark exchange. According to the film-makers, it was a late addition.
- If the US Army had a secret experimental Transformer-killing weapon, why didn't they use it before? Because they didn't want the Autobots to know about that weapon!
- What happened to Wheelie?
- Autobot gender not explained! How are Transformers conceived?

Awesome!!!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a true geek movie! It completely exceeded my expectations in all aspects, a great sequel to Transformers. Two and half hours long of mind-boggling CGI action, an exceptional soundtrack & Megan Fox eye candy, everything that leaves you wanting for more. At the end of the movie, you are left with only one word to describe it - AWESOME!!!
The biggest entertainer & the best movie I've seen this year. I enjoyed it so much that when I left the cinema, I had stomach ache because of the excess adrenaline!

Rating - 8.5/10

See you all in 2012, for the next Transformers movie. :)

The Real Effing Deal
GiantEffingRobots.com

Blog Updates

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:03:00 +0000

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

- First mod is that I’ve replaced the header. [Twice!]

- Added a Recent Posts layout to the homepage using jQuery Display Switch tutorial found here.

- Added a Recent Posts dock only visible on post pages. Copied from Magazeen template.

- Removed the Blogger’s Blog List gadget because it was too slow. I may add back a popup blogroll later.

- I also wanted to add a LinkWithin related stories widget, ~~but no matter what I do, it just refuses to work.~~ it now works thanks to the LinkWithin team! :)
Also tried to add a jQuery Tools Scrollable Featured Posts carousel, but was unsuccessful.

- Given that Google Pages is shutting down, I’m now using Ripway as my files host. & I’m still looking for an alternative to ImageShack as image host…

So that’s it. Enjoy this “new look.” :)

Update:
Great news for Blogger users! I’ve just discovered that Google now allows Picasa images to be displayed outside of the post area! So you can now host your template images directly on Picasa, meaning faster load times!!! :D

Update 2:
Added the new Label Clouds widget & a Google Custom Search. ;)
Also, avoid using Ripway as your host since it's blacklisted by Kaspersky. :S

Ferrari 458 Italia

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:13:00 +0000

Meet the descendant of the Ferrari F430 – the Ferrari 458 Italia…

When the test mules of the F430 were spotted around Maranello, no one could have imagined that it would turn out to be one of the fastest Ferrari supercars ever!

0-100km/h
Ferrari F599 – 3.7s
Ferrari F430 Scuderia – 3.6s
Ferrari Enzo – 3.5s
Ferrari F458 Italia – less than 3.4s!

Less than 3.4s – completely destroys the competition, the Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder & puts the F458 into hypercar category. The Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce does 0-100 in 3.2s, the Pagani Zonda Cinque does 3.4s!

Turbocharged? No! The F458 has a naturally-aspirated 4.5L V8 chunking out 570HP for a top speed of 325 km/h.
The F458 comes with a 7-speed dual-clutch & will have a fuel consumption of 20.7mpg.
The nose also sports small aeroelastic winglets which generate downforce and, as speed rises, deform to reduce the section of the radiator inlets and cut drag. – how awesome is that! :D

Enough of numbers… What should I say about the looks? :-O
The Ferrari 458 Italia is what you’ll get if you combine the body of the F430 & the Enzo with the curves of the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. That’s like combining Angelina Jolie & Keira Knightley with … Megan Fox! :P

Enough of drooling… I will just have to wait for non-CGI pics of this ~~beast~~ beauty when it’s unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Btw, The Stig just got a cure for his Stig flu…

The Videos:

Read more:
Top Gear - It’s the new Ferrari!
Autoblog - Ferrari announces the 458 Italia!
Jalopnik - Ferrari 458 Italia: 562 HP Of F430-Replacing Italian Muscle

The Official Press Release:

ITALIA - Ferrari's innovative new V8
The 458 Italia is the latest incarnation of the mid-rear engined berlinetta and will be unveiled at the next Frankfurt Motor Show.
Maranello, July 28th 2009 – While it's true that every Ferrari is innovative by definition, it's equally true that in the course of the Prancing Horse's history, certain cars have marked a genuine departure from the current range. This is very much the case with the Ferrari 458 Italia, which is a massive leap forward from the company's previous mid-rear engined sports cars.
The new model is a synthesis of style, creative flair, passion and cutting-edge technology, characteristics for which Italy as a nation is well-known. For this reason Ferrari chose to add the name of its homeland to the traditional figure representing the displacement and number of cylinders.
The Ferrari 458 Italia is a completely new car from every point of view: engine, design, aerodynamics, handling, instrumentation and ergonomics, just to name a few.
A two-seater berlinetta, the Ferrari 458 Italia, as is now traditional for all Ferrari's road-going cars, benefits hugely from the company's Formula 1 experience. This is particularly evident in the speed and precision with which the car responds to driver inputs and in the attention focused on reducing internal friction in the engine for lower fuel consumption than the F430, despite the fact that both overall displacement and power have increased. However, Ferrari's track experience makes its presence felt in the 458 Italia not only in terms of pure technological transfer but also on a more emotional level, because of the strong emphasis on creating an almost symbiotic relationship between driver and car. The 458 Italia features an innovative driving environment with a new kind of steering wheel and dashboard that is the direct result of racing practice. Once again input from Michael Schumacher - who was involved from the very start of the 458 Italia project - played an invaluable part.
The Ferrari 458 Italia's Pininfarina design provides further evidence of the complete departure from the past that this new car hails. The Ferrari 458 Italia has a compact, aerodynamic shape, underscoring the concepts of simplicity, efficiency and lightness that inspired the project. As with every Ferrari, the car's styling has been very heavily influenced by the requirements for aerodynamic efficiency, as can be seen from the downforce of 140 kg at 200km/h generated by the new model. The front features a single opening for the front grille and side air intakes, with aerodynamic sections and profiles designed to direct air to the coolant radiators and the new flat underbody. The nose also sports small aeroelastic winglets which generate downforce and, as speed rises, deform to reduce the section of the radiator inlets and cut drag.
The new 4499 cc V8 is the first Ferrari direct injection engine to be mid-rear mounted. It has a very low piston compression height typical of racing engines which contributed to achieving its compression ratio of 12.5:1. Equipped with the traditional flat-plane crankshaft, the engine delivers 570 CV at 9000 rpm and, with an outstanding power output of 127 CV/litre, sets a new benchmark not only for the whole Ferrari range and the history of company, but also for the entire market segment. Maximum torque is 540 Nm at 6000 rpm, over 80 per cent of which is available from 3250 rpm. Specific torque is a record 120 Nm/litre. However, what is truly extraordinary is the amount of torque available while still maintaining high levels of power at low revs.
The car's soundtrack is also typical Ferrari, with an exciting, powerful growl emerging from the engine before it channels through to the exhaust's three rear tailpipes.
The 458 Italia is equipped with the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission which increases performance whilst providing very smooth shifts even at full throttle. The engineers have developed specific, sportier gear ratios to match the power and torque curves of the new V8, guaranteeing high torque even at lower engine speeds and allowing the car to reach its maximum speed in top gear.
This new Ferrari is also a major leap forward when it comes to cutting emissions. Despite the fact that the new engine is significantly more powerful than the V8s that preceded it, the Ferrari 458 Italia produces just 320 g/km of CO2 and fuel consumption is 13.7 l/100 km (combined cycle), the best in the entire segment.
The engineers also focused on weight reduction during the design phase for similar reasons. Consequently, the Ferrari 458 Italia has a dry weight of 1380 kg with a power-to-weight ratio of 2.42 kg/CV. Weight distribution is also optimal with 58 per cent over the rear axle. The result of the engineers' endeavours can be summed up in to two simple statistics which together perfectly encapsulate the Ferrari 458 Italia's exceptional performance: 0-100 km/h acceleration in under 3.4 seconds and a maximum speed in excess of 325 km/h.
For the new chassis, once more in aluminium, Maranello's engineers incorporated various types of advanced alloys along with aerospace industry-derived manufacturing and bonding techniques.
With regard to vehicle dynamics, the Ferrari 458 Italia's suspension features twin wishbones at the front and a multi-link set-up at the rear tuned for maximum roadholding and superlative handling. Along with a more direct steering ratio, the 458 Italia thus offers extremely rapid turn-in and body control whilst maintaining superior ride comfort.
The integration of the E-Diff and F1-Trac (now controlled by the same ECU) and their respective mappings is even greater, resulting in a 32 per cent increase in longitudinal acceleration out of corners compared to previous models. The evolution of the control logic, with even faster and more accurate calculation of levels of grip, ensures even greater roadholding, better handling and ease of control on the limit.
The same ECU also governs the high-performance ABS, providing even more precise control over the logic threshold and greater efficiency. The brakes also feature a prefill function whereby the pistons in the callipers move the pads into contact with the discs on lift off to minimise delay in the brakes being applied. This combined with the ABS has cut the 100-0 km/h braking distance to a mere 32.5 metres.
The Ferrari 458 Italia's interior is another area of the car that exalts its sporty personality. The driver is welcomed by a new layout and a revolutionary ergonomic interface where the main controls are all clustered on the steering wheel.
With the Ferrari 458 Italia, Maranello has brought a highly distinctive new car to its 8-cylinder range. The company now offers two models that share a common, race-derived DNA, both exceptionally sporty and fun to drive in true Ferrari tradition, but aimed at two very different kinds of client. While the Ferrari California was created for owners requiring a more versatile sports car with a practical edge, the 458 Italia is designed for owners for whom the priority is uncompromising on-road performance with occasional track day capability, but who still demand a car that is useable in day-to-day driving like all Ferrari's recent models.
Ferrari 458 Italia – Technical specifications
Dimensions
Length 4527 mm (178.2 in.)
Width 1937 mm (76.3 in.)
Height 1213 mm (47.8 in.)
Wheelbase 2650 mm (104.3 in.)
Dry weight 1380 kg (3042 lbs)*
Weight/power ratio 2,42 kg/CV (7.16 lbs/kW)
Weight distribution fr/r 42%/58%
Engine
Type V8 – 90°
Displacement 4499 cc (274.5 cu in.)
Maximum power 570 CV (425 kW)** @ 9000 rpm
Maximum torque 540 Nm (398 lbs/ft) @ 6000 rpm
Specific power output 127 CV/l
Compression ratio 12.5:1
Tyres
Front 235/35 ZR20 8.5"
Rear 295/35 ZR20 10.5"
Performance
Maximum speed >325 km/h (>202 mph)
0-100 km/h
Fuel consumption + emissions
Fuel consumption*** 13.7 l/100 km
Emissions*** 320 g CO2/km
Gearbox
Dual-clutch, 7-speed F1
Electronics
E-Diff3, F1-Trac, high-performance ABS
* With forged wheels and Racing seats
** Including 5 CV of ram effect
*** Combined cycle (ECE+EUDC)

Your Next Phone (from 2004)

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:25:00 +0000

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.

Over a month, four professional tech designers produced the specifications for the "petfrog," a sleek, enticing prophecy of things to come. The phone's touch screen can display any interface, from keypad to keyboard to mouse pad or game console. Another higher-resolution screen can slide out of the unit for video chats and Web surfing. Thin, insertable cartridges can turn the phone into an MP3 player or camera, or add extra memory or a large keyboard.
Full article can be found here.

At that time, I dismissed the petfrog as the geek’s ultimate fantasy – it was too good to be true!

5 years on, we’re the Future… & ha! Except for the form factor, the petfrog is the modern smartphone.

Multimedia
Hard drives have been surpassed by the more reliable flash memory, allowing all smartphones to double up as music & video players and game consoles!

Productivity
Email, Office document & PDF viewers/editors & voice recognition – we already have that!

Contacts & Communication
Friendster is so passé – it’s all Facebook & Twitter now & IM (with video chat). I should add VOIP as well. :)

Features
High-res display? AMOLED
Cameras? Yep, up to 8MP.
QWERTY keyboard? Yep, even on-screen ones!
Wirelesss? Wifi, Bluetooth, 3G, HSDPA, Wimax.
Expanded media? MicroSD
Location-based services? A-GPS, compass, street navigation!

What hasn’t changed…

Power. Electrical power.
Since the last 5 years, processing capacity has quadrupled, memory has decupled, network speed has increased substantially but battery life? It’s almost the same.

While I won’t say that battery technology has stagnated, it certainly hasn’t kept up with increasing demand for power. I haven’t come across any new technology that can replace the current li-ion/li-poly completely. So if there’s anything limiting your phone to replace your computer, curse the battery.

The Next-Gen Phone

… can have NFC, face & motion recognition like Project Natal, HD displays, installable OSes, pico projectors with virtual keyboards, well, anything you can imagine!
The point I wanted to make is that if you ever come across an article on some future technology, don’t shrug it off… You may well be using it tomorrow. ;)

Google Chrome OS

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:56:00 +0000

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.

Why take the most popular Google services out of beta & reveal Google Chrome OS out of the blue? That's because it's almost certain that this Monday, in addition to Windows 7 RTM & Office 2010 beta, the Office Web Apps will be released (as so conveniently hinted by @scobleizer).

Getting back to Google Chrome OS, here's the blog post with the announcement - but I'll be quoting only the most important parts.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks.
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.
The software architecture is simple - Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.
Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems.
We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear - computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.

Amidst all the over-hype, mostly by TechCrunch & Mashable, let me clear this misconception once & for all - Google Chrome OS is not your everyday Windows or Linux or Mac OS.
It's just a BROWSER!!!

Installing apps, watching movies, playing music files, heavy gaming, sync devices, encoding, photoshoping etc. you won't be able to do any of that!
Chrome OS is based on a Linux kernel & will be running a single app - Chrome. All the "apps" that'll run on Chrome OS will only be the web-apps - GDocs, GMail, Zoho, Aviary, Buzzword, Picknik, Photoshop Express, etc.
Yep, no Firefox, GIMP, VLC or OpenOffice. Not even your favourite Twitter client!

Why?
Because Google Chrome OS is aimed towards netbooks, mostly used for web browsing & light app usage.
The CrunchPad is the perfect device to illustrate this - a multi-touch tablet whose only feature is to get you on the web.

How do you keep an "OS" secure?
Cut off the weakest link, the apps, & lock down the OS, leaving only a single app - Chrome which runs everything sandboxed.
It also means that the OS is maintenance-free, efficient, quick to boot & shut-down.
Hence Google can direct its resources towards improving the OS & Chrome instead of solving compatibility problems. If the web-apps don't work, Google won't be blamed!

How to ensure driver compatibility?
That's were the OSS community comes in play. I suppose Google will be providing Chrome OS with generic drivers which should work straight out of the box like Puppy Linux or Damn Small Linux. & once Chrome OS connects to the Internet, it downloads the rest of the drivers.

& how to make sure your printer or device X works? (supposing Chrome OS supports devices)
Google will probably be leaving this to the OSS community to compile their own drivers.

I suppose by now Google Chrome OS doesn't seen that much attractive. But Google have a few more tricks up their sleeve.

Google Wave
Do I even need to explain that? Best collaboration tool ever.

Gdrive
How do you keep all your data up to date, accessible from anywhere. That's where Gdrive comes in - it should have the same features as DropBox.

Google Gears + HTML5
Offline mode for all your web-apps.

Extensions
Chrome 3.0 supports extensions, albeit a horrible implementation. Once things straighten up, almost all extensions from Firefox will be ported over to Chrome.

Native Client
The best bit for the last. Native Client will allow x86 code to be executed directly on web-apps! At last some real apps. In my opinion, this will be the killer feature of Chrome.

But...
Privacy & Security
Yep, more than ever, you'll be handing your entire web existence over to Google. Obviously, they'll be monitoring to serve you relevant ads, but to what extent? Illegal file-sharing? Pr0n? Who said it can't be hacked?
Imagine for a while how easy it will be for China to implement its Great Firewall if all the computers ran Chrome OS, a single browser!

Internet Connectivity
If you do not have access to Internet, no Chrome OS for you. Google Chrome OS is targeted towards netbook users, not Third World countries with crappy connections. I suppose the minimum speed for running the web-apps would be 512k/1M.
& suppose one day your Internet is down, even those offline apps won't help you get rid of your web addiction.

Apps
In spite of all those web-apps & Native Clients, when you'll still need to go back to your real OS for the heavy work. Take for example AutoCAD, there's no way you con replicate that on the web. That's why it's meant for netbooks.

Chrome
This one is pretty obvious. Why would even want to install Chrome OS on your desktop if you can install Chrome on any OS! Getting the best of both world!

Will it kill Windows?
ROFLMAO :P How ridiculous! Google Chrome OS is for a niche - portable devices with quick access to the web.
For everything else, you'll still need Windows. & don't forget Microsoft already have Gazelle, the browser OS in the works.

It's instead Mozilla that should be concerned. Chrome with its extensions & Native Client will inevitably entice away Firefox users.
The Linux community should also be concerned that instead of using an existing distro, Google are promoting their own OS, thus undermining their efforts.

The Bottom Line
Unlike what Mike Arrington would like you to believe, the web/cloud is not everything. The biggest hurdle to cloud computing is indeed connectivity. In the real world, not everyone has 8Mbps connections & neither are free Wifi spots available everywhere. Web-apps are good for doing the basics. But if you need to harness the real power of computing, it’s still your good old desktop apps. Yes, Google Chrome OS is a great thing – more competition is always better for users, but it’s just a browser!

Great read - 10 Things We're Dying to Know About Chrome OS

Firefox 3.5 Review

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:42:00 +0000

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

According to Mozilla, Firefox 3.5 was such a major update that they decided to leap the version number from 3.1 to 3.5 to reflect this.
Let's take a look at the list of new features:
- Faster Tracemonkey Javascript engine.
- Private Browsing mode & Forget About This Site history option.
- Restore closed tabs.
- Some support for HTML5 including audio/video tags.
- New CSS features.
- Geolocation

Private mode was already present in all browsers except Opera. & you can't do both normal/private browsing at the same time. IE, Opera and Chrome could all restore closed tabs. The much hyped HTML5 open audio/video was killed in the egg by W3C. Tracemonkey engine was forced upon by the Browser speed Wars Chrome initiated. So the only new feature is geolocation, which is next to useless if you live in Mauritius.
To sum-up, Firefox 3.5 is what we can define as playing catch-up to the competition.

However, I'm more interested in the performance of Firefox 3.5. To find out, I decided to compare it against the other major browsers on Windows 7 - IE8, Opera 10 Beta 1, Chrome 3.0.190.1 Beta & Safari 4.
Note: It's completely different to what Lifehacker tested, probably because of the huge gap in hardware performance. So the following results are more suited to older machines.

Opera 10 is still in beta. Hopefully this will be fixed in the final version.

IE8 has surprisingly the lowest memory footprint, followed by Safari, Opera & Chrome. However Firefox 3.5, without any extensions, uses more memory by a huge margin!

The above speed test shows that all the browsers are fast enough, with Firefox 3.5 being slightly more consistent.

For Chrome & IE8, each tab having its own process contributes significantly to higher memory usage. However, the biggest culprit is Safari, which proved to be a huge resource hog - even the CPU usage proved to be higher. Firefox 3.5 can somewhat claim to have the lowest memory usage.

Firefox 3.5
Firefox's numbers are misleading! Because once you enable even the most basic of extensions, it's back to good old bloated Firefox 3.0. Memory usage climbs to an average of 100MB on a single tab. It takes around 10-15s for Firefox to load even on a warm startup.
As I had long suspected, but which very few tech blogs reported, Firefox 3.5 is an unfinished product. Mozilla rushed its release to meet the deadline, leaving along most of bugs from Firefox 3.0. There is still a damn permanent bug, observed in Betas & RCs and now the final version, that pops a tab as a new window! There were no memory optimisations and features were left out. Is this all Mozilla have been doing for over ONE YEAR?!?
It doesn't have Ubiquity built-in, nor the new visual Ctrl+Tab tab switch & neither does it support the next version of Windows!

No support for Windows 7 tab preview!! This one really annoyed me, because I was expecting it.

IE8 does it perfectly.

Even Safari has half-implemented it. The real-time thumbnails display correctly, but you get a black tab when you try to peek at the tab.

Verdict: A faster, but equally bloated Firefox 3.0. Firefox 3.5 SUCKS!!!

The Competition
IE8
IE8 renders websites as you'd expect Firefox 2.0 to do & the Compatibility view breaks them even more. & then there's the New Tab lag. Otherwise it's relatively slow, but its great strength is the tab preview on Windows 7.

Safari
Safari tried to copy the features of all the browsers & it failed. Massive memory & CPU hog. Top Sites & History in Cover Flow mode is just a visual gimmick. & it doesn't support extensions. Not to mention that it tries to sneak in iTunes & Quicktime on each update. & btw Safari is certainly not "the world's fastest browser."

Opera
Opera 10 is still in beta & has quite a few design issues - the autofill Wand has a key icon! However in terms of native features, it's probably the best out there, especially with new Turbo Mode & Opera Unite support in future versions.

Chrome
Chrome 3.0 supports extensions! Although, I could get only one to work. With its clean interface & fast browsing speed, Chrome may pose the biggest threat to Firefox (i.e. until they make the Most Visited thumbnails an option).

The best browser?
... doesn't exist! Sorry fanboys, but there is no point sticking to one browser. Each browser has its strength & you try to get the best out of it.
Use Firefox for its extras - AdBlockPlus, Firebug, Greasemonkey & the rest! Use Chrome when you need to do some quick browsing. Use Opera's Turbo mode when your connection is slow (it doesn't work with Twitter). & use IE8 for... downloading the other browsers!

So what's your favourite browser? Let the Browser Wars begin... :P

Angels & Demons

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:56:00 +0000

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

Angels & Demons follows on the huge success of The Da Vinci Code. While events in the film claim it's a sequel, the book is actually a prequel, to be followed by The Lost Symbol this September. & like all novel-adaptations, except for TLOTR, the book is better than the movie.

Angels & Demons starts off slowly, and then picks up pace with the usual mystery solving and action sequences à la Da Vinci Code (or National Treasure). As with all Dan Brown stories, the plot is simple at first sight, but in fact is convoluted - the Vatican is under attack from a secret society, the Illuminati. The Illuminati have stolen a canister of antimatter (powered by a battery, hence a time bomb) & have hidden it in Vatican. & the only way to find it is through the Path of Illumination.

Tom Hanks is excellent in his role as know-it-all Robert Langdon, with Ayelet Zurer as his female sidekick. But it's Ewan McGregor who's undistinguishable as the Camerlengo (he played Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars I-III).

Scientific inaccuracies!
This one quite annoyed me because it was so early in the film. Retinal scanners don't work with dead eyes – the dead vessels decay too quickly upon death!
Antimatter is like a blue light-emitting particle-gas. That's impossible because no one actually knows how antimatter will look like - if it's not matter, how can you see it! (On a second thought, maybe the film-makers were right - the antimatter is interacting with infinitely small particles, causing emission of light.)
Finally, there's the explosion - it should have caused intense emission of light which would have blinded everyone.

The film misses a few key elements from the book, but still manages to sustain the intrigue. Not as exciting as the Da Vinci Code, but definitely a great movie. If there is to be an extended version, it'll probably be perfect! :P
Rating - 7/10

X-men Origins: Wolverine
Wolverine is my favourite X-men character, & thus my expectations were high for this film. & it certainly doesn't disappoint - it's a great action flick, but the plot has a few shortcomings. The scenes do not seem contiguous - I suppose it's because the film was re-shot in January.
Otherwise some of the action scenes are pretty unbelievable - walking away calmly from an explosion in the background is so Bollywoodish! & the last fighting scene was quite ridiculous - controlling a mutant via commands! & what happened to Victor?
Overall, it's a good popcorn movie, but it could have been better!
Rating - 7/10

The Pink Panther 2
What would you expect from a sequel of a film like the Pink Panther? Yeah, it's the same jokes all over again. While some are utterly ridiculous, the others are outright lame!
The faux-French is quite irritating & it seems Aishwarya Rai was uncomfortable in her role (or probably it's just me, being accustomed to see her in Bollywood movies). The bottom line is that the good laughs outnumber the bad laughs, so it's watchable. :)
Rating - 6/10

Gran Torino
One of the best movies I've seen this year so far. While I don't really like slow movies, Gran Torino is an exception. Despite his age of 79, Clint Eastwood is sublime in his role as a xenophobic war veteran & ideal American, abandoned by his children.
But more importantly it's the wonderful story of his transformation, owing to his Hmong neighbours, from an irritated old man to a local hero who ultimately sacrifices himself. :D
Rating - 8.5/10

Fanboys
Are you a Star Wars fanboy? Then Fanboys is an absolute must for you! The best comedy I’ve seen this year! & there’s a guy nicknamed Windows in it… :P
Rating – 8/10

Top Gear S13E01 - The Stig Unmasked

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:07:00 +0000

Top Gear is back... for Series 13!

Episode 1 starts off with a mouth-watering preview of forthcoming episodes. Among them an epic Bugatti Veyron vs McLaren F1, a deathmatch between the Audi R8 V10 & the Corvette ZR1, the Godzilla (GT-R), the Lamborghini LP670-4 SV and more caravan-truck racing! :)

The epic race in this first episode was from London King Cross's station to Edinburgh.

But there was a catch - they had to use vehicles from 60 years ago, in 1949. So it turned out to be a race between a Jaguar XK120 driven by May, Hammond on a motorbike - the Vincent Black Shadow & Clarkson on a train – the 60163 Tornado!

& like all Top Gear races, nothing was certain until the end but the car finally won it. It was a pretty thrilling race - James May for once wasn't complaining, being at home in 1949. Richard Hammond's constant problems with the Black Shadow has certainly diminished his love for bikes. But it was the wonderful scenery of Britain that topped it off! :)

The review of the day was the Lotus Evora. The producers ditched the Evora's Power Lap because of its 276HP engine & there was another much more powerful car to test...

The Ferrari FXX! The FXX is like a road-version of an F1 car - it actually has all the Ferrari F1 technology built-in (probably not KERS). With a weight of just 1155kg & an insane 800HP engine - that's like a rocket-powered bicycle!

Some say that he invented the curtain. And that he recently submitted a £20000 expenses claim for some gravel for his moat. All we know is… he’s called The Stig!

& when The Stig took it around the track, I certainly wasn't expecting the time to be so phenomenal - 1:10:7!! That's 7s faster than the previous top car - the Apollo Gumpert S! Incredible! :D

& then came the moment to unmask The Stig! Is it Susan Boyle!?

No, it's just Michael Schumacher. Although he's not the real Stig, I totally loved the stunt! The atmosphere in the Top Gear studio was electric! :P

Michael Schumacher became The Stig because only the owner of the FXX is allowed to drive it. & Top Gear viewers will have noticed he didn't drive as aggressively as The Stig on the track… or rather he did… :P
The real Stig? Actually there are several Stigs for the different stunts, but only one Stig does all the races! ;)

Next episode will have a review of the Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce & twitter celeb @stephenfry will be the guest for SIARPC. :D
Btw behind-the-scene extras for episode 1 can be found here or downloaded here.

Microsoft Security Essentials (Morro)

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:40:00 +0000

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… :)

Microsoft Security Essentials is Microsoft’s free anti-virus solution – an indispensible app which should have been bundled since a long time with Windows like Windows Firewall (but won’t be because of the EU).
MSE will launch around the same date as Windows 7. A public beta of MSE will be available on 23rd June to the first 75,000 downloaders. What I’m testing is a pre-beta build, so a couple more features may be added at launch. Download links are on JCXP.net.

The setup file of MSE is just 5MB (it doesn’t come with definitions). Installation took a couple of seconds with no restart required.

MSE also comes with a built-in antispyware, which automatically turns off Windows Defender to prevent conflicts (actually MSE is supposed to replace Windows Defender).
It took around 2 mins to download all the updates – thanks to Akamai! ;)

MSE is a very basic anti-virus app – there are not many settings to customize. Real-time protection, option to scan archives & removable drives, create restore points and that’s it. So I started straight away with a scan.

Scan was relatively fast, with CPU usage being equal if not less than other anti-virus apps… but then it detected a virus! :| Now, that’s worrying… because I never installed any anti-virus on Windows 7.

Turned out the virus is actually not a virus. :)

Konboot is a boot disc which allows you to bypass the password of a system (Windows & Linux) – obviously a potential threat according to any anti-virus! :P
Note: I ran the same scan on Eset Nod32, & it took twice more time, much more CPU usage (around 80%+) and it did detect Konboot as a virus.

Memory usage is 4MB + 30MB for the anti-spyware. But I was astounded with the overall resource usage. It’s a fact that all anti-viruses slow down your computer, causing lags & slower start-ups but MSE? Nope, not at all – I saw absolutely no difference in speed when extracting archives & installing! It’s almost as if it’s not there!

MSE is free and as such it comes with some restrictions. You cannot prevent MSE from sending information to Microsoft Spynet concerning viruses detected & where it came from. But I suppose this information will actually help Microsoft in tackling virus outbreaks faster. Other short-comings include no heuristics or malicious activity detection, no email protection, no boot/startup protection, no web access protection & no antispam.

So?
Overall I’m impressed with Microsoft Security Essentials with especially with no loss in performance. But the ultimate test will be the detection rate of the engine. & if it turns out to be pretty effective… & add the fact that it’s FREE - Norton, McAfee, Eset, Panda, Kaspersky and the rest definitely have a cause for worry. :)

Nokia E72 & 5530 XpressMusic

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:53:00 +0000

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

Nokia E72
The E72 is the successor to the mythical E71, which is widely regarded as the best QWERTY smartphone available.

The E72 has the same layout as the E71, except with a boost in specs - 5MP camera, optical scrolling, 10.2Mbps HSDPA, 3.5mm jack, active noise cancellation and digital compass.

Dimensions: 114 x 58 x 10mm

Weight: 128 g

Display: 2.4 inch QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) with up to 16 million colors

Camera: 5 megapixels with autofocus and flash

Video: VGA quality recording plus front-camera for video calling

Email: support for Mail for Exchange, IBM Lotus Notes Traveler, Nokia Messaging, POP/IMAP and selected 3rd party solutions

Quickoffice 5.3 with support for Microsoft Office 2007

Built-in mobile VPN

Built-in GPS with Assisted GPS (A-GPS) support, compass and Nokia Maps

Active noise-cancellation

Music features include music player, media player, FM radio with RDS

3.5mm AV connector for stereo headphone jack

Memory: Up to 250Mb internal memory with 4 GB in-box MicroSD card, supports up to 16GB MicroSD memory

Connectivity: High speed MicroUSB connector

Data connectivity: 3G, HSDPA, HSUPA, WLAN, EGPRS; Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP stereo audio

Talk time: Up to 12.5 hours

Standby time: Up to 24 days

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic

The 5530 is like a cheaper version of the 5800, except for a few key differences.
It has tactile feedback. No front buttons – everything’s touch sensitive.

& most importantly it doesn't have... 3G! Yep, only EDGE, so you can safely forget this phone which is suitable for Third World countries....

Dimensions: 104 x 49 x 13 mm

Weight: 107 g

Display: 2.9 inch widescreen (640 x 360 pixels) with up to 16 million colors

Camera: 3.2 megapixels with autofocus and LED flash

Video capture: widescreen 640x 360 px up to 30 frames-per-second

Memory: Up to 70Mb phone memory with 4GB in-box MicroSD card, supports up to 16GB MicroSD memory

Connectivity: High speed MicroUSB connector, 3.5mm stereo headphone jack, Bluetooth 2.0

Data connectivity: GPRS/EDGE, WLAN (IEEE 802.11 b/g)

Talk time: Up to 4.9 hours

Standby time: Up to 14 days

Music playback: Up to 27 hours

Video playback: Up to 7.3 hours

Samsung also announced 5 new mobile phones today – the Omnia II, the Omnia Pro, the Omnia Lite, the Jet & the Pixon 12 (which has a 12MP camera)… ;)

Top Gear Series 13 – Teaser Tv Spots!

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:14:00 +0000

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

Hats-off to the Top Gear producers for having the greatest sense of humour in the world.
The setting of the video starts with 4 kids – one dressed as The Stig. & as the dialogues unfurl… you pretty soon realise who they really are… :P

Mini-Hammond (distinctive hair style & beaded collar) – What do you want to do when you grow up?

Mini-May (flowered shirt) – I want to do a massive skidding race on ice.

Mini-Hammond – I want to do a classic rally with someone even smaller than me.

& mini-Clarkson – I don’t want to grow up. :D

Mini-Clarkson – POWERRRRRRRR!!!
Mini-May – Clarkson, you great oaf!

Mini-Stig – …. ………. …………. …….. ………….. ……. ………. ……… …….

ROFLMAO!!!! :D Can’t wait for Top Gear to air next Sunday!!! Woot! xD

Download clip here - 7MB

Update: TV Spot #2

Linkin Park’s New Divide Music Video

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:24:00 +0000

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!

Linkin Park – “New Divide”

Like all Linkin Park videos, this one is unique by its special effects, looking straight off like the visualizations of a media player with psychedelic distortions & negative image effects!

The video was shot in the Tomb of the Primes (The 12 original Transformers).

New Divide’s music video includes what I believe to be key scenes from the film, especially revolving around the Fallen & the Transformers history with mankind.

Also included are scenes from the trailers & of Optimus Prime fighting Decepticons… including one new scene with his massive gun!

I’m also wondering if the girl in the video is… Megan Fox?

As usual it’s a superb video from Linkin Park, a fitting reply for the great song that is New Divide & the awesome movie that will certainly be Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen! :D
As soon as the HD version is released, I’ll update the screens. In the meantime, here’s the flv of the music video – Download here (16.2MB)

iPhone 3G S

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:09:00 +0000

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

S stands for ~~sucks~~ speed. The 3G S features a faster processor (600Mhz) which should bring a much needed speed boost to the UI & apps. Games should also benefit from this along with the new 3D chip.
The 3G radios also got a speed bump with support for 7.2Mbps HSDPA.

Video recording - a much-demanded feature which has been finally implemented after a 2-year wait. The iPhone 3G S can record at VGA (640x480) at 30fps. Also included is quick trimming of videos.

3MP camera with auto-focus - A better camera with basic exposure, white balance, auto-focus, manual focus by tapping on screen & auto-macro.

Voice control - exactly like the voice control on Windows Mobile, it allows you to control apps like iTunes.

The magnetometer (digital compass), which will help in turn-by-turn navigation on Google maps.

Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating - having had hands-on experience of the iPhone's love for fingerprints, I can say this is a really great improvement.

The iPhone 3G hasn’t been phased out – Apple will be selling the 8GB version at a lower price while the iPhone 3G S will only be available with 16GB & 32GB capacity.

Another improvement - the iPhone 3G S will have better battery life.

What's missing?
Most predictions were wrong. There was to be no front-facing camera with video iChat (or video call) nor a new design with matte black finish (that would have been much better than the glossy black). & neither a back-lighted Apple logo. It’s the exactly the same design as the iPhone 3G.

No flash
The 3MP camera is good for casual photos but with the lack of flash, it’s crippled. A dual-led flash could have doubled up as lighting when recording video.
& Apple still haven’t added support for the other Flash on Safari.

MicroSD
Almost all smartphones have a MicroSD slot… why not the iPhone?

Bluetooth 3.0
If Apple really wanted to showcase the iPhone 3G S's speed, they should have included the much faster 3.0 spec - & possibaly becoming the first device to do so. With just Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, that's disappointing. Unless they add it via an update…

Multi-tasking
The iPhone OS 3.0 added MMS, Copy & Paste, landscape keyboard & Push Notifications. However Push Notifications is no equivalent to running multiple apps & you can’t switch between them. With no multi-tasking, the iPhone OS sucks – imagine using any OS without app switching!

The main reason I think Apple cannot add multi-tasking & other features is because of battery life. Comparatively, the N97 with its 1500mAh battery has 6h 3G talk time.
One possible solution is adding an AMOLED screen – better quality, less power but more expensive.
But fact is… lithium-ion battery technology seems to have reached its critical point. To really improve on battery life, Apple will need to optimize the OS, which it has so far procrastinated by adding faster processors. What they did with Snow Leopard, they should do the same thing with the iPhone.

Mauritius?
The iPhone 3G S will be available on the 9th of August in Mauritius… but given that oranges are oranges, I don’t expect the same price drop in the US as with the iPhone 3G. Currently the 8GB iPhone 3G is Rs 24k & the 16GB is Rs 32k.
The iPhone 3G S 32GB may be around Rs 35k.
3G users have no obligation to upgrade since they’ll be getting most of the features on the 3.0 OS, but for iPhone gen1 users, it’s a tough decision. Sure the hardware is better, but at that price?

iPhone v4?
The iPhone 3G S is no new product, it’s just a better iPhone 3G (a bit like what Nokia did with i versions of their phones, like N93 –> N93i). Evolutionary, not revolutionary.
Since some time Apple have been playing catch-up with other phone manufacturers by adding standard features every year… I was expecting iPhone v3 to be the version where it’ll finally level the playing field, but it’s not - no front-camera, flash or multi-tasking. Yesterday’s keynote was disappointing – it never stirred the buzz like with the iPhone 3G. If Apple don’t get it right next year, the iPhone is doomed. Steve Jobs should already start thinking of the next thing.

PS. Snow Leopard was also announced. Basically Snow Leopard is to Leopard what Windows 7 is to Vista. & cheaper Macbook Pros (courtesy of Laptop Hunters).

Update:

Orange are clearing up their stock of iPhone 3G (to make place for the 3G S), offering a 20% rebate.
iPhone 3G 8GB is now Rs 19k & iPhone 3G 16GB is Rs 24k. They’ve also included instructions on how to update current iPhone to OS 3.0. ;)

Update 2:

The iPhone 3G S is now available at a prepay price of Rs 34,000 & a post-pay price of Rs 33,000. :)

Orange Expo 2009

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:46:00 +0000

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

That’s an old General Electric telephone… Compare that to your own phone. :P

I'll start off with the mobile phones... If you were looking to a hands-on with the Samsung Omnia or the Nokia 5800 or the Nokia E71, you'll be disappointed that these handsets are actually dummies at the Orange stand! Apart from the iPhone, there were hardly any other smartphones to test.

Nevertheless, there was still a Samsung Omnia HD being demoed at the Samsung booth. The Omnia has the best screen I've ever seen in a device - that AMOLED screen is way too good, great contrast & true black. :)
As for the UI, it's exactly like the 5800 & having a capacitive touchscreen seemed unconvincing on a UI optimized for resistive touch.
Also demoed at the Samsung booth was a waterproof phone – the Samsung Niagra.

Nokia was demoing the 5800... but they missed a great opportunity to present the N97 to the public.
The Sony Ericsson booth was empty. No one bothered to stroll there.

At the Apple stand, there were two things - an iMac turned off & the iPhones.
I've never tried an iPhone before (nor any other Apple product) so I had great expectations of the iPhone. The first iPhone I tried was UTTER CRAP! The touchscreen was totally unresponsive - tapping was hit & miss, sliding half-worked - I had to finger-punch the screen to launch something & the lag was so evident! I fired up Safari & (although it had a SIM), as expected orange.mu never loaded. & what to say of the screen - biggest fingerprint magnet in the world. Was this really the over-hyped iPhone?
Disgusted, I moved over to the Orange stands where the only real phones were SIM-less iPhones. The second iPhone I tried was so much better. How could two similar devices behave so differently? Both were iPhone 3Gs, but I bet they had different firmwares, which completely changed the user experience. Here are my final observations from the ‘better’ iPhone:
- It's a massive fingerprint magnet, not suitable for my fat greasy fingers.
- Capacitive is less accurate than resistive. With capacitive, your touch has to be firm, you con't have half-heartedly touch.
- There is a lag when doing different actions on the iPhone. For me, the animated transitions actually amplify that lag. The iPhone is not a device for frenzied hyper active impatient persons.
Add the fact that there is no app-switching, that was very frustrating to hit Home every time.
- Although it has a low resolution on a big screen, there is no pixelisation thanks to the anti-aliasing & font smoothing.
- After using the iPhone's QWERTY virtual keyboard, my doubts have been cleared. There can be no alternative to a physical Qwerty or T9 keypad. The virtual keyboard just isn't fast enough.
To conclude, without any apps, I was quickly bored by the iPhone. It's a good gadget, but not worth the Rs 25k it's being sold for.

Moving on, there was a gaming section with kids playing games on PCs, plus a PS3.
& something called Orange Sitara doing the background score of the event.
The mini-conferences were kinda noobish – but that’s the point of the Expo, it’s for noobs! :P

For the My.T/Orange TV, Orange tried to woo customers by putting huge screens playing those 15 channels. But they forgot that these channels are horrifyingly pixelised & the huge flat screens amplified that! That was a big FAIL!

Cash & Carry in partnership with Orange were offering special My.T+PC/Laptop offers… The total sum for the PC/Laptops at the end of 48 months is around Rs25,000 for the 256k 3GB, Rs 28,800 for the 512K & Rs 38,400 for the 1M. Check it here.

The Home section was also boring except for the Orange Liveplug – connects your My.T TV network via electrical lines.

To sum up, Orange Expo was a waste of time, no interesting technology, plastic smartphones on display, iPhone extravaganza, a Home suite straight from France & some conferences-for-dummies. But it's an Expo where models are more attractive than offers - that's why I’m glad I went there, & I would definitely recommend you to go… even if it's only for one thing…. the booth girls. ;)

Microsoft's Qui veut gagner un PC?

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:20:00 +0000

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

How to participate
- Send microsoft <student id> to 8386. (without the < >)
- You'll get the instructions to answer 5 multiple-choice questions by replying either 1, 2, 3 or 4. (Each sms costs around Rs 1.20)
- The first 100 contestants who have scored the most points from this sms competition will be eligible to participate in the next round. Your rank can be checked at play-sms.net You can play more than once to improve your rank, however you do not need to finish in the Top 10, only the Top 100. Sms competition started on 29 May & will last till 14th June.
- The 100 contestants will be contacted on the 15th June and called to the Octave Wiehe Auditorium, Réduit for the final on the 16th June at 18:30.
For the public, tickets for the event are at Rs 150 at Rezo Otayo.

The 10 finalists will be selected from the 100 contestants by a questionnaire round. There'll be two semi-finals with 5 participants each. & finally the final will be between the winners of the 2 semi-finals.

Prizes

- 10 finalists will get 1 month free Emtel broadband and Microsoft hardware prizes, & training vouchers.

- Second prize - Acer Travelmate TM5330 (link)
Processor: Celeron Dual-Core T1600 (1.6GHz, 1MB cache, 667MHz FSB)
Memory: 2GB DDR2
Screen: 15.4” WXGA TFT
Hard disk: 250GB (5400rpm)
Graphics: Intel GMA X4500M (64MB, up to 1.7GB)
DVD Super-multi drive, Wifi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth, 3xUSB, 1 LAN, 1 PCI, 5-in-1 card reader, 6-cell battery, 2.88kg.
Full specs here.

- First prize - Dell Vostro A860 (link)
Processor: Pentium Dual Core T2390 (1.8GHz, 1MB cache, 533MHz FSB)
Memory: 2GB DDR2
Screen: 15.6”
Hard disk: 160GB or 250GB (5400rpm)
Graphics: Intel GMA X3100M (up to 384MB)
24x DVD/CD-RW combo or 8x DVD-RW, Wifi 802.11b/g, 2xUSB, 1 LAN, 1 PCI, 3-in-1 card reader, 4-cell & 6-cell battery, 2.46kg.
Full specs here.

So there you go. If you have any more questions, you can check the detailed instructions in this pdf. The related L’Express Dimanche article is here.
Good luck & I hope a UOM student will win this contest. :P
Btw, the next version of Windows is certainly not Windows Live nor Windows Mastermind and neither Windows Pro 2011. ;)

Random Pics #2

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:09:00 +0000

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

That’s probably the last time I’ll be posting these random pics coz I’ve simply run out of old photos… Back in 2004, I had absolutely no clue about photography, so all I did was point & shoot. :P

Do check out Yashvin’s guide to photography – Discover the world of Photography ;)

Man Utd are runners-up of 2008-09 Champions League

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:44:00 +0000

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.

Man Utd started the match superbly with 5 shots on goal & total domination of the first 8 mins (their best performance throughout the match). Until Barça mounted their first attack & Eto’o scored on his trademark clinical finish.
Whichever team was to score first would gain an enormous advantage over the other to mount up counter-attacks. & that’s exactly what Barcelona did. & much more as the United players were totally shaken up by this first goal & provided a mediocre performance throughout the first half, with half-hearted passing & trying to contain the unstoppable Messi or Xavi.

The second half resumed with the introduction of Carlos Tevez & of Berbatov on the hour mark. Man United did a much better performance but with no playmaker to feed the plethora of attackers (Fletcher?), United were left chasing shadows as Barcelona demonstrated their superior passing. United hopes for a 1999-styled comeback crashed when Lionel Messi headed in from a Xavi cross, a ball gained by Captain Puyol, to make the score 2-0.

The match ended in a 2-0 defeat for Man Utd whose hopes of retaining the title were crushed by a superior Barcelona side. Barcelona totally deserve their trophy as they were a much better team.

But United fans should not despair – Man Utd did try to defend their title in the final & so finished runners-up of the Champions League at the end of an incredible season, despite United not playing at their best. Man Utd have won the Carling Cup, the FIFA World Club Cup, the Premier League for the 18th time & are runners-up of the Champions League. That is a incredible accomplishment! :)
I’m really looking to next season when Man Utd will try to make up for this season’s deficiencies & come far stronger than ever!
On a final note, I’ll just mention that next year’s Champions League final will be played at Bernabeu! Hope it’ll be an all-English final. ;)

Guardian.co.uk – United players reaction
Photos are from Daylife.com

Office 2010 Technical Preview

noreply@blogger.com (carrotmadman6) — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:00:00 +0000

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... ;)

Office Professional Plus 2010 took around 8 mins to install on Windows 7.

Starting up any Office app takes only a few seconds, even on a cold start with the new 'spectrum' boot animation. The new boot animation has a cancel option to prevent you from opening the app if you have launched it accidentally.

The first thing you'll feel is that it's very very fast. Animations, menus, formatting options - everything is fluid, without any lag. Basically Office 2010 has been given the Windows 7 treatment, optimized to the hilt. Even memory usage is much lower.

	Office 2007	Office 2010
Word	22 MB	11 MB
Excel	15 MB	8 MB
PowerPoint	94MB	14 MB
OneNote	15 MB	30 MB
Visio	15 MB	18 MB

A quick look at the interface shows no major change from Office 2007. The Ribbon (aka Fluent UI) is here to stay, albeit now with Aero blended in & an arrow button to hide it. Icons are no longer outlined, giving a sleeker Ribbon.

The Office button is no longer a menu, but a whole new page with the same standard options – New, Print, etc.

You'd probably be disoriented at first, especially with the new Print options.

Bored of the dull white skin? No worry, there'll definitely be more options in future releases including a matching blue Windows 7 theme.

This is probably one of the most important improvements of Office 2010. Office 2007 was much hated for its Ribbon that decreased productivity as compared to customized toolbars. Office 2003 users can now rejoice - Ribbons are now totally customizable! You can make your own custom tabs!

Security has been given prominence in Office 2010 with a 3-tier protection – DEP, Document Validation & Protected View.
Protected View kicks in when you open downloaded documents - it essentially opens it as read-only, with one more button to click to access editing.

With the lack of a change-log & the Help file being that of Office 2007, it's hard to identify all new features. So I just focused on new Word features. (A few more features are on beingmanan.com)

Insert Screenshots from opened windows in the background.

Artistic effects similar to Photoshop.

Remove background from picture! Great for removing simple gradients, but not recommended for detailed backgrounds.

Open Type Ligatures – whatever that means…

Powerpoint-styled Word Art can be applied to any piece of text.

The new Search sidebar

& finally Office 2010’s Feedback program – Send-a-Smile. :)

The Bottom Line
In all, a very fast Technical Preview, very much worthy of being a successor to Office 207. But it’s still very much incomplete – missing icons are replaced by a red dot! & it has bugs – I couldn’t make AutoConnect work on the Basic Electrical Template for Visio (it worked on my first try).
If you are thinking of downloading Office 2010, I would suggest you wait until the public betas because many leaked versions are being distributed with trojans, mostly botnets & mainly because this TP is a 30-day trial.