Google India Women in Engineering Award

Google India has announced an award for deserving women students in Computer Science and related majors, and inspire them to become active participants and leaders in creating technology. The prize money is Rs 75,000. Eligible candidates must be full-time students from recognized institutions with specialization in Computers or related subject. They need to have Cumulative CGPA of at least 4.0 on a 5.0 scale, 8.0 on a 10.0 scale or equivalent. Demonstrable leadership experience would be a plus.

The detailed eligibility criteria is as follows

The last date for application is 31st-Jan. So if you know someone who may be eligible then please pass on the word. The details can be found here.

P.S: The programme has been open since first of december. I got to know about it today only from TechBanyan

There are not many women who have computer science or engineering degrees, so encouraging the ones that do is great. Now, since you can take college classes online, getting an advanced degree is easier than
ever. Online degrees may be a new concept, but they are a great alternative for busy people.

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What Google knows about me

Everything. ok, almost everything.

I was a reading a post on “Google To Become Open Source Science Repository” at Techcrunch. While this is a really nice gesture by Google, what made me uneasy was Ducan’s observation that “We thought Google knew everything, now it will know even more“. So I just made a list of Google’s products that I use and what google knows about me. The list was really scary. Read on and most probably you will be scared too.

Google Search :- all my searches (interests, hobbies, plans). May be my profession too.
Google Desktop Search :- all the content on my laptop
Google Toolbar :- the web sites I visit, frequency of visit
Gmail :- All my emails. Even if you do not use gmail, if the person you send mails, uses gmail then google knows the content of the email sent by you.
Orkut :- myyour freind list, the communities I belong to
Blogger :- frequency of my blog post, all those post that I never published
Adsense :- my complete address, my online income, which posts on my blog are more popular
Adword :- my credit card information
Analytics :- details about my users, where and how they come from
webmaster tools:- the search term I target

Personally I love google and I use their products because they are the best ones available. But the thought that one company knows too much about me sometimes worries me. Just in case they become evil someday !!! I think we desperately need an alternative, may be an open source search engine.

The following links will explain exactly why I am uncomfortable.
AOL search data scandal
US regional bank hacked
AT&T hack exposes 19,000 identities

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MySQL sold for $ 1 Billion !!

Yes that is true. MySQL AB the developer of opensource database system MySQL has been sold to Sun for close to $ 1 Billion. Here is the posting on Sun’s website announcing the acquisition.

Most importantly this deal proves that open source software development can be a viable business model.

MySQL was always a great database. However continued support was a major concern for any corporation considering installation of MySQL. With SUN’s might behind MySQL that concern shall be gone. Support revenue forms a large part of the revenue for many product companies and IMHO SUN must have given a lot of weight to the expected support revenue in coming up with this billion dollar valuation.

The deal looks to be quite complementray. Sun is in the enterprise and has a substantial Web presence, while MySQL has a substantial Web presence and is entering the enterprise. Hence there is a possibility of a substantial cross-sell for both products.

The only downside can be that MySQL stops being a truely opensource software and starts to focus too much on the earnings potential. Hope that better sense prevails at SUN.

SUN has been involved with the development with the development of rival open source database PostgreSQL. It will be interesting to note what will be SUN’s strategy going forward.

Seems like it is time for Larry to start concentrating on his core database business.

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Microsoft seeks patent for office ’spy’ software

The Times reports that Microsoft has filed for a patent that will allow the employers to monitor employee’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.

Microsoft submitted a patent application in the US for a “unique monitoring system” that could link workers to their computers. Wireless sensors could read “heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure”, the application states.

The system could also “automatically detect frustration or stress in the user” and “offer and provide assistance accordingly”. Imagine a world where you are constantly monitored by your employers, where getting excited privately by an attractive fellow employee could end up in a sexual harassment claim, or even privately being unhappy by someone in management may automatically result in intervention and retraining.

Scary
You can read the original article here

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Anyone who has never made a mistake

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
— Albert Einstein

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Apple Air : The Thinnest Notebook on Earth

Steve Jobs in his Macworld keytnote announced the MacBook Air, which is the world’s thinnest notebook. He demonstrated just how thin the notebook is by pulling it out for its grand introduction from a standard envelope.

It sports a number of standard notebook features, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 80GB hard-disk drive. It has a battery time would be roughly five hours. Unlike the iphone, users will not have to wait for long as the product starts shipping in 2 weeks.

However it does not have a optical drive. There’s a “remote disc” feature built right into the operating system that will show all Macs or PCs in the vicinity — you can just click on one of the machines and ask to borrow its optical drive. That’s cool.

Topics: Hardware, News

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Netscape is Dead - A sad end to a great product

AOL is going to remove support for Netscape browser starting from 1st of February 2008. Unsurprisingly very few bloggers seem to have taken note of the event, we have moved beyond Netscape long time back.

A really sad end for a product that made the internet possible. Before netscape, internet was used by geeks alone. A large number of complex protocols, incompatible software and non-existent graphics meant that ordinary folks simply did not have the ability or the desire to go online. However Netscape changed all that by making it possible for ordinary folks to access the internet. It may be hard to believe but at one point of time 80% of all internet users used Netscape.

The rest is history. Microsoft realized the potential of the browser. Once Microsoft had bundled the internet explorer with windows, netscape did not have a chance in hell.

Netscape will not be missed by many. But it will always be remembered as one product that made internet a possibility.

You can read the Netscape blog here

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US Enters into a recession

According to this article on BBC, the US is already in a recession.
“The feared recession in the US economy has already arrived, according to a report from Merrill Lynch.”

It will be interesting to see how Indian IT companies will cope with this recession in US. Will it continue to be business as usual or will we be back to the black days of 2001 (the retrenchment, regret letters). I have my fingures crossed.

In another report Goldman Sachs predicts that US unemployment will rise from the current 5% to 6.5%. This may bring back the anti-outsourcing lobby. The US presedential election may make things even worse.

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Java Code Search Engines

Good programmers write what thay can. Great programmers write what they must. If you believe in the above saying then you will love the following list of websites that allow you to find code that you can do Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V

javadb.com is my favorite code search engine. It has got list of questions like

• Extend the size of an array
• How to copy an array

You can select the question that best describes your problem and you will have a ready-made code to solve your issue.

if you want to know how to use a particular class then Jexamples is a good site for the same.

Topics: Coding

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