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This is my second blog, which is dedicated to technology. My first blog was a bit more personal and not formal in any way. In this blog I will be posting some of my experiences, good and bad, with technology. The Format of this blog will be bottom to top, so the newer posts appear at the top of the page. I'll be writing my first article soon.

By Atharva Inamdar

Apple iPad

27th January was the day Apple introduced the world to its eagerly awaited tablet/slate. Despite many predictions of the device being named iTablet, Apple came up with iPad.

This article isn't about really a review of iPad but more about expectations from Apple and some afterthoughts about iPad.

First of all, I had expected it to be around 10inches screen size which was pretty close. As expected, multi-touch is present was the usual iPod Touch functions. This brings me to an important point. To a certain extent, this is an oversized iPod Touch. Let me explain. The asthetics are the same as the iPod Touch/iPhone, black bezel with a home button in centre bottom. Now on first impression, the UI is exactly the same. 4 icons on the dock, and a grid style home screen with 4 columns. I hope this is configurable as having only 4 dock items seems to be leaving a lot of empty space on the screen. Hopefully, users can add more items and more columns. It seems to be using the same OS as the iPod Touch.

Connectivity wise, they have two versions to sell, one with 3G and one without. Both versions have Wi-Fi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 which was expected as standard. but why not make 3G standard? there are issues with the network coverage on AT&T in the US and maybe thats the reason. Also its a new type of SIM in use here. something called the microSIM.

So what exactly is different with this tablet that other tablets can't do. First of all its a full colour screen with a fairly high resolution of 1024x786. This is strange now, without a half HD screen, it claims to play HD movies. Is it just me or is that clain falsified by Apple themselves? However, there is a positive side to this device, its battery life. If any good as claimed, it will last UPTO 10 hours of use. Whether that be surfing the web, reading eBooks, listening to music or using the applications. I assume this is possible dude to a highly power efficient processor. Apple have used their own A4 chip in this. Apple's acquisition of P.A. Semi has paid off. However, rather than A4 being a new design from P.A. Semi, its a modified ARM processor. It is said its a ARM7 processor but there's no confirmation.

One of my biggest disappointments, and I'm sure for others too, is the lack of multitasking. Sure, more apps run in the background such as mail and SMS where, PUSH notifications are used but it is still not possible to run two or more applications simultaneously. Sure it can run iWork but if I need to note something from the web, would I really, shut down Safari, open iWork then jot down from memory? What if I need to do this often when I'm on the move?

Another snag is that it only has the iPod connector, not even a display port. Now I understand, that being a modified iPhone OS, it doesn't have support for USB mass storage or display Port but I think Apple should have invested some time in adding this. For a tablet platform these are important especially if it is expected that some of the users will be doing some sort of word processing.

So whats the fuss about iBooks? We all know how closed the iPhone OS is. there's no access to the file system. This is the biggest reason why publisher's have opted to sign up to Apple iBooks because there is very little chance that users will be able to copy books. Other platforms such as the Kindle and other eReaders it is possible to copy the books in ePub format. Although the iPad uses epub file format, the file is actually not accessible by the user.

I feel that iPad is another platform for Apple to sell its various applications and generate revenue. iTunes, iWork, and now iBooks all contribute to their content distribution service and the iPad adds another device which is compatible with these services. This is a launchpad for iBooks more than anything.

Data privacy in online transactions

recently, I had to write a executive summary. This wasn't any ordinary executive summary, it was slightly modified to include an argument. Something I had to argue for or against. Ask a question and answer it using the material from a single paper.

When googling for a suitable technical paper, I came across Google Research. A place where google hosts all its research publications. Papers written by google engineers and philosophers, this also includes a section called Tech Talks, where outside speakers are invited to Google to talk about a particular subject. I found an interesting paper titled: "Choose the red pill and the blue pill". Wondering how "The Matrix" was connected to research at google, I opened it and found out that it was actually related to online security. mainly transactions of any kind. A position paper laying out the thoughts and proposal of Google engineer Ben Laurie and Abe Singer of California Intitue of Technology.

In this paper they state that having secure protocols is not enough for security and data privacy. Today's general purpose operating system isn't good for security at all. Infact, the OS is the biggest weakness. But to rewrite a secure OS is out of the question as it will reduce the functionality of a system. Ben Laurie and Abe Singer propose a complimentary device running a secure OS to authenticate and authorise any transactions made on a general purpose system (insecure client).

I have summarised this paper here [pdf]. You can download the original paper here [pdf].

Google Chrome

11/09/2008

Google Chrome Review coming soon! Watch this space!

A Web Browser from Google. Bound to be simple, clutter free and extremely easy to use. My first thought? Firefox made by Google. Correct and incorrect.

I'll start with Windows Vista Business. I had connectivity problems. This problem was present during winter months of 2007. OK I admit that these issues have most probably been sorted out knowing the Quality of service that CheckPoint provides. Back to the Point. I had major issues with connectivity with any network; LAN or WLAN, Corporate or Home network. Windows Vista used to give me limited or no connectivity errors every 10 mins or so. At this time I was connected to a University network through my halls. My first port of call was ipconfig/all. All the details such as Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, DHCP, DNS servers were all correct. then I noticed that the lease obtained was only 10mins. So I called up ICT service desk and asked them the what the lease should be and it turned out that the lease obtained was much shorter than expected. I took my laptop to the service desk and asked them to diagnose the problem for me and solve it.

A week later, I went to talk to them and guess what!? They didn't know what the problem was. They admitted that they had not previously tested ZoneAlarm on the Vista systems before but they could not find any of the settings which would solve the problem. They suggested that something with my LAN card hardware was wrong and that I should get it repaired/replaced. So I googled the problem and came up with some interesting forum posts. They suggested that Vista itself cut off the connection to the router if the pings weren't timed exactly and this was partly because of the new security system. So I uninstalled ZoneAlarm and just checked. This time my connection actually lasted 30mins or so. So Zone Alarm Security Suite was indeed playing a role reducing my connectivity.

I Contacted ZoneAlarm and explained them the problem and gave them complete details. All they replied was they had no idea of what was wrong and said that this had not occurred during thier extensive tests. So I was stuck with a couple of options 1)reduced connectivity with the firewall and 2) no firewall and security with full connectivity.

At this point I should also mention that I had in the back of my mind of downgrading to Windows XP Pro. So i went ahead and swapped HDDs. I had installed XP Pro previously on another HDD. Shove that in and realised I had Comodo Firewall and AVG free anti virus installed on it! So i didn't bother to replace them with ZoneAlarm until the Holidays had started.

Now I have XP Pro with ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite functioning near perfectly.

I concluded that the version I was using(one of the first full Vista compatible releases) had a bug.

Please do not hesitate to provide any feedback.

Windows XP Repair troubles

June 2008

Its not everyday that people complaint about Windows XP. But I have a complaint about the repair process of XP.

I found a a old Creative Sound card and decided to install it. PCI installed Windows XP booted creative drivers installed and restart! I checked if the card worked or not it did but only one output . so i decided that i'll reinstall just in case something went wrong with the install. from Add/remove Programs i clicked remove next to the Soundblaster Live! entry. Uninstall went well but then reinstalling it didn't. Something, I don't know what but something did go wrong.

As usual I went into safe mode and logged into the administrator account. System Restore came up and i selected a point on the previous day, this checkpoint was created before installing the card. The desktop restarted as usual, Windows XP boot logo came up and then the screen blanked. Monitor was on but no welcome screen! I removed the power and booted it up again and the same.

Back to safe mode and a different checkpoint was selected. Again the same result except that when in safe mode it said restoration complete. At least it restored it but messed up.

So I consulted a few friends who have had experience in these matters. They suggested using a XP CD to repair the installation.

I didn't have the original CD so i asked my friend If i could borrow his. Well he gave me one slipstreamed with SP2. This was a CD which he regularly used so I knew this would work. Cd in the tray, PC booted up. I get a screen asking to boot from CD or not so i do and the blue screen with several options of ASR (Automatic System Recovery) and RAID driver installed appear. I was told to ignore and let it be... So all the files loaded and Windows started, a new menu popped up.

1. Install Windows

3. Exit Setup

As per instructions, option 1 was selected and then another menu

1. Repair current Windows Installation

2. Clean Install

Again option 1 chosen. display changed to "deleting files: " and then "copying: ". All was going well... The windows install GUI displayed and started the feature explanations which i didn't bother reading and left the computer with the screen turned off. 1hr later I come back and find an error. "Please insert "Windows XP professions with Service Pack 2" CD in the tray. Cannot copy " some file name with a weird extension which i had seen for the first time. ".ex_" So i click browse and navigate to I386 folder of the CD where i see this file (although there is no extension). I opened the file and clicked Retry but again it the same file error. However, the display had changed slightly now the extension was ".exe". I tried again to browse and retry. I gave up and clicked cancel and another file. In total i got errors for 30 files, some with similar names but numbered. I let the installation go ahead. After the PC restarted, the welcome setup screen came and asked me to register, to which i selected no and clicked finish.

The PC booted fine with the welcome screen and all user data still available as expected. I knew that this repair would uninstall any updates so I hit the Microsoft update website and yep there were 87 critical updates, 5 Software updates (all office updates) and 3 Hardware updates. I selected the critical updates only and clicked install. After a few minutes all were downloaded and it started installation but the progress bar did not proceed. I waited a few more minutes and then suddenly all updates were shown as Failed. I thought I didn't have Windows Installer 3.1, so I manually downloaded it and installed it. Another Reboot and another update attempt which sadly failed. I thought it was something to do with the files not being copied. Since i had nothing to lose other than time, I decided to try another repair attempt.

Repair attempt 2:

All went well and then those errors came back. Thankfully this time there were only about 10 files. Some signs of progress. again after logging in and update attempt all 87 updates failed.

This really started to bug me. So i returned the CD and asked my friend to perform the repair on one of his computers (he needed to repair it anyways). He had done exactly the same as me, every step. This proved that the files on the CD were NOT corrupt. so back to my house and (dead) PC. I tried the repair XP option again. And those errors kept coming back.

What next? Ignore everything and continue using the PC. Ok now there is pretty much no way to install those 87 updates than to manually download them and install. I was not going to do that. Well, I have decided to put a hold on this issue until my exams are over. I have some plans for the summer holidays such as a clean install AFTER a double government wipe of the HDD. Until then Enjoy spring cleaning your PCs and Laptops.

And don't forget to send me your feedback and any suggestions.

HDD selection

January 2008

August 07 I bought a Toshiba Tecra laptop. This came with a 80GB stock HDD. 5400rpm and 8MB cache. I should mention that this laptop was bought with the intention of use in my university. So mostly office use and hardcore simulation of circuits and stuff. Oh the occasional Counter-Strike. Within first 3 months my HDD was 90% full. Now I had a choice for my second term at uni

• 1. 1) Buy a external HDD (3.5" or 2.5")

  2. 2) replace my stock HDD with a higher capacity one

External HDD was an excellent option as i could use it for backup as well. For this option I had two schemes in mind.

• 1. 1)Move all my first term's work onto the external HDD and start new term with clean HDD

  2. 2)Use the external for storing all work. Backups, archives and frequent use files.

But then I realised wait Laptops are meant to be mobile... If my work is on a external I will have to carry that around as well. I didn't want this.

So to option 2, replace stock HDD. This option was great. I started looking around for prices and HDDs just before Christmas 07. Dabs, Ebuyer and PC World were my first few stops. PC world didn't have the HDDs I was looking for, their HDD capacity was too low or the price too high. I do NOT recommend PC world (online or store) for any PC buys. Dabs and eBuyer had similar HDD options. Dabs listed 160GB, 200GB for price range of £80 to £120. My budget was max £100. I wasn't worried about if it was 5400rpm or 7200rpm as my use didn't require high performance as long as it was adequate for "recommended" features. Capacity was my necessity.

On eBuyer, I found a special deal on a Western Digital Scorpio 250GB for ~£70 free shipping. I looked around Dabs a bit more but wasn't able to find a similar or better deal. In short my HDD is SATA-I, 5400rpm and 8MB cache.

In conclusion if you want to chose a new HDD consider the following:

• 1. 1)Budget?

High performance budget must be over£120

Medium performance upto £100 is sufficient

For High Performance

• • ¬ Cache - 16Mb

  • ¬ RPM - 7200rpm

  • Medium performance

• 1. ¬ Cache - 8MB

  2. ¬ rpm - 5400rpm is sufficient

  3. 2) Capacity? but no emphasis performance?

for day to day office work - 80GB->120GB

for unversity students - 160GB->250GB

For Amateur designers, media editors(video) - 250GB+

Don't want internal disk? consider firewire or ethernet NAS? in raid storage capabilities go as high as you want or of-the-shelf products currently provide 2TB(teraByte = 1024GB) capacity which is extremely large

• 1. 3)Performance Emphasis?

at least 160GB

16MB Cache

7200rpm

have no budget? then consider SSD(Solid State Disk)

If you have any question (specific or general) regarding HDD selection or for that matter any PC related Hardware queries please write to me using the feedback form.

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