Sayan's BlogWorld » personal

Home wireless overhaul successful !

Sayan — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 20:33:56 +0000

I had been struggling with the poor wi-fi at home for a while. After some looking around I got a refurbished Netgear WNDR3300 dual-radio 802.11a/b/g/n wireless router from www.newegg.com for about $30.

The stock firmware on the router is mediocre so flashed it with DD-WRT. Now I have super-fast connectivity to my computers and phones. Ya for awesome free open sourcey stuff !

Now for my geeky friends here is my setup: This router has 2 independent radios so after flashing the firmware to DD-WRT I configured a client bridge setup to the interweb on the 802.11g radio . On the other radio (802.11a/b/g/n) I setup a mixed 802.11g/n 2.4Ghz access point because my Android phone cannot do 5Ghz 802.11n

Back from hiatus

Sayan — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:06:52 +0000

I am back thanks to the WordPress for android app… To celebrate here are a few pictures I took with my new phone…

. . . → Read More: Back from hiatus

Google Calendar and contact syncing for iPhone and Windows Mobile devices

Sayan — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:42:44 +0000

Google just announced a new service for pushing Gmail contacts and Google Calendar updates to mobile devices. This is neat!

Knowledge Gap of How We ‘Fit In’ is Greatest Threat to Environment

Sayan — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:29:42 +0000

The article does a much better job of describing one of the great questions facing humanity - ‘How do we fit in?’ Maybe we need to ask native cultures around the world the answer to this mystery. Anyway here is the article from Treehugger.
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Help Gaurav

Sayan — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:12:47 +0000

Vaibhav sent me this today, please donate any amount however small

Thanks,

Sayan

www.helpgaurav.com/

Gaurav Tandon is a 34 year old professional working with Datacraft Asia (a private IT firm) in Mumbai, India. His small family comprises wife, a 6 year old son. He has two elder sisters both are happily married and a brother who is serving as Captain in the Indian Army.

Gaurav was detected with AML (a type of Blood Cancer) in November 2008. He has responded well to chemotherapy, but must get a Bone Marrow Transplant as the only possibility for a cure. Unfortunately the HLA typing test of his siblings is negative. Doctors have therefore strongly recommemded a Non-Related Allogenic transplant. Since such transplantations are rarely performed in India, there is a high chance that we have to take him to places like Singapore, UK or the USA.

The estimated cost of the treatment in Singapore and UK is around 1.5 Crore Indian Rupees (around US$ 333,000), whereas in the US is around of 2 Crore Indian Rupees (around US$ 444,000).

In order to meet the steep cost of the said operation, Gaurav and his family have decided to sell their solitary flat at Thakur Village Complex, Kandivili, Mumbai. However, this is not going to be enough, since the amount required for the treatment is huge and time is less.

Let us all come together to help Gaurav. Together we can reach out to our communities and remind them that we – members of Gaurav’s family, community and country have a responsibility to help. Let us all remember that Gaurav is also a son, a brother, a father and a husband. We should all see ourselves in Gaurav and realize that he deserves the same support we would wish for member of our own family or even ourselves.

www.helpgaurav.com/

God is a DJ !

Sayan — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:36:58 +0000

This is an amazing video by Faithless.

TED Talks- Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness

Sayan — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:12:45 +0000

What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Buddhist monk, photographer and author Matthieu Ricard has devoted his life to these questions, and his answer is influenced by his faith as well as by his scientific turn of mind: We can train our minds in habits of happiness. Interwoven with his talk are stunning photographs of the Himalayas and of his spiritual community.

Another thoughtful (and humorous) TED talk was the one given by Bob Thurman sometime ago. It is one of my favorite TED talks and I have blogged about it previously. But it is probably appropriate to include it once more:

Cyclone in Bangladesh

Sayan — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:56:37 +0000

The cyclone Sidr narrowly missed hitting India directly and instead hit Bangladesh causing widespread devastation. I encourage you all to donate to help alleviate the suffering of one of the poorest countries of the world. Coastal Bangladesh is bearing the brunt of environmental disasters - rising sea levels will make it worse. I support Direct Relief International since 100% of the contribution goes into disaster relief especially medical aid. Why should you donate? Sheril explains lucidly:

Rising from the deep: Hydrogen economy

Sayan — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:12:34 +0000

All the major petro-companies are pushing for the hydrogen economy as a replacement for fossil fuels….some argue that this would allow them to keep their existing monopoly on transportation fuel.

My gut feeling is this an over-simplification. I came across the concept of ‘deep hydrogen reserves’ sometime ago. Apparently the Kola Superdeep Borehole, the deepest hole drilled by man at 12+ kms (~7.5miles) has been found to be bubbling with hydrogen. So do you think, the petroleum companies will simply shift from petroleum drilling to hydrogen drilling? Or maybe even methane drilling? I would be interested in your thoughts / opinions.

Windbelt, Cheap Generator Alternative, Set to Power Third World

Sayan — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 06:26:05 +0000

The article here and its accompanying video describe this invention as, “…a taut membrane fitted with a pair of magnets that oscillate between metal coils. Prototypes have generated 40 milliwatts in 10-mph slivers of wind, making his device 10 to 30 times as efficient as the best microturbines…”

Rumi: Poems on and about the beyond…

Sayan — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:34:54 +0000

The mystical poems of the 13th century Persian poet Rumi have made him one of the best known poets of our times. UNESCO has declared 2007 as the International Year of Rumi.
Here are couple of video recitations of his poems…

Here a few more Rumi videos from Youtube (I will keep adding more as I find them)
http://sayanc.net/blog/1w
Shakespeare of mystics

Sitar at the subway station

Sayan — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:24:45 +0000

Watching this video today morning made my day…hopefully it will make yours too! its such an interesting fusion of Indian and Western… and remember the sitar is a very difficult instrument to master. Anyway here is the video, enjoy !

In case you liked the sound of the sitar, I heartily recommend watching Ravi Shankar and Allah Rakha playing at the Monterey Pop Festival 1967 : Part 1 and Part 2. It will give you a glimpse into why they are counted among the greatest musicians of all time.

Tradition vs. Tourism in Ladakh

Sayan — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 01:01:20 +0000

I have been dreaming of visiting Ladakh for ages…

As featured on Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria. This video excerpt from a film by Dan Schreiber explores the tension between tradition and tourism in a remote region of Northern India.

Carl Sagan – Pale Blue Dot

Sayan — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 19:15:33 +0000

This is a video of the the Pale Blue Dot.
As the Youtube psot says having Carl Sagan read to you from the book with the same title is something else. Enough said. Take a listen and leave comments please.

Incredible India on Youtube

Sayan — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:52:27 +0000

The Ministry of Tourism, India has launched a new channel on Youtube. Check out this very refreshing tourism video from India