It’s a long time since I posted anything in the Boredom Killer’s category.So here is something you can try when you are really really bored - Composing songs with your Landline telephone set.

If your phone supports Tone dialing then you can create various sounds by pressing the keys. With some effort you can create recognisable tunes with them too.

Here are some examples :-

Happy Birthday

1 1 2 1 6 3
1 1 2 1 9 6
1 1 # 9 6 3 2
9 6 9 3 6 3

Mary Had a Little Lamb
3 2 1 2 3 3 3
2 2 2 3 9 9
3 2 1 2 3 3 3
3 2 2 3 2 1

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

1 1 9 9 # # 9
6 6 3 3 2 2 1
9 9 6 6 3 3 2
9 9 6 6 3 3 2
1 1 9 9 # # 9
6 6 3 3 2 2 1

More songs are available over here .

Btw, don’t expect them to be very melodious

Web 2.0 has truly become a craze, and I am sure that most of you would have heard about it. However very few are actually aware about what Web 2.0 really is!

This can be attributed to the fact that the definition of web 2.0 itself is very ambiguous.According to Wikipedia :

Web 2.0 generally refers to a second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that lets people collaborate, and share information online. In contrast to the first generation, Web 2.0 gives users an experience closer to desktop applications than the traditional static Web pages.

The concept of “Web 2.0″ began with a conference brainstorming session between O’Reilly and MediaLive International. O’Reilly’s website contains a detailed explanation about Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is a more dynamic and interactive World Wide Web.

One of the things that is often associated with Web 2.0 is AJAX. The web has evolved over the years. The bland and completely html based websites have made way for more sophisticated websites implementing various standards like Ajax, JavaScript and CSS. Ajax makes it possible to make websites more interactive. I have used Ajax in my blog for Displaying comments (to get a demonstration click on the View comments link in the main page.)

To make the meaning of Web 2.0 clear let us consider couple of examples

1. Digg Vs. Zdnet : Zdnet is a Web 1.0 website. It offers little interactivity. Only the Zdnet editors have control over what gets posted. Digg is a Web2.0 website. It is a technology news site. However what sets is apart is the fact that the content of the site is entirely managed by the members of the site ( anyone can become a member). All members can post news that they think is interesting. The news is posted in the Backyard. Now members Digg (or vote ) for a news. Once it received sufficient amount of votes it reaches the front page. So this offers much more interactivity.

2. Yahoo Vs Netvibes : Yahoo is an old-fashioned Web 1.0 start page or portal. It contains links to various services like Horoscopes, Entertainment etc. You are also presented with the news headlines. Again you have no control over the content of the page. On the other hand in a website like Netvibes it is you who decides the content of the page. You can add weather reports, News feeds you find interesting, search engine you want to use and so on. Thus, Netvibes is a Web2.0 website.

( Readers please note that this article was written before Yahoo unveiled it’s new interface. )
3. Encyclopedia Britannica Vs Wikipedia : This is another excellent example of Web 2.0 vs Web 1.0. Encyclopedia Britannica operates in the classical fashion. It has a group of experts, writers and editors who manage the content of the site. Where as Wikipedia is largely maintained by the community. Anyone can become a part of the community. Everyone can contribute to Wikipedia. While this has often led to the abuse of Wikipedia, it has it’s own advantages. In many matters Wikipedia’s converge is more than Britannica’s. For eg. Search for St. Patrick’s Higher Secondary School doesn’t throw up any valid results in Britannica, there is a stub on this subject in Wikipedia.

Many people associate Web 2.0 with rounded edges, XHTML validation, Firefox compatibility and so on. In my opinion these are just misconceptions. The hype surrounding Web 2.0 has clouded the real meaning of Web 2.0.Nowadays, anything trendy is being defined as Web 2.0. According to John C. Dvorak Web 2.0 is nothing but hype.
He says that :
Web 2.0 is a rallying point. Maybe cheerleading will make it happen! But what they are cheerleading for, a slew of vague and meaningless concepts shows that they have no clue about what they are doing.

He is certainly right when he says that Web2.0 is vague. In a way Web 2.0 is nothing new. No new technology is behind these sites. Even AJAX which has gained popularity only recently, was invented in 1998.However, the concept behind these sites is certainly new. These sites are changing the face of the web. And there is no denying it. I am pretty sure that Web 2.0 is here to stay. The popularity of sites like Digg, Slashdot, del.icio.us and Gmail prove that.
What do you say?
P.S. A huge list of Web 2.0 sites is available here

After a long break I am finally back.Due to exams and other troubles I wasnt able to update my blog for a looong time.
I had also managed to corrupt my mySQL database while porting from b2evolution.As a result my site was down for more than a month.My Google PR went down from 4 to 2.Hopefully I will be able to regain my PR soon
And oh yes, Today is also my Birthday!

Yes.Expect something big soon.Opera’s community news section has been updated to announce that Team Opera has planned a big event to mark the New Year.Daniel Goldman has revealed that the major event will be held in New York City.However other community members would not also be left out. More details should be available on this Monday ( December 12th ).As of now one lucky member can win an Opera T-shirt everyday for answering a simple question.You can participate here
A part from that expect a lot of new features in the future releases of Opera.I had mentioned in one of my earlier articles that there are reports that final release of Opera v9 would support widgets.Today Opera employee Olafur Arnason aka Olli has revealed that some more new features has been added to Merlin ( codename for Opera v9 ).Also it would include a much easier way to add search engines to the search bar.So now you wont need to download the search.ini editor or tinker with the search.ini file manually.It would now be possible to have site specifit settings.Check out his blog for more info.
Update: Opera has revealed what the big surprise is.For details see http://my.opera.com/newyears

In a browser faceoff ABC News has revealed some interesting new facts about the yet to be released Opera v9 final build.Currently Opera v9 is in Technichal preview 1.
This is what ABC News had to say :-

The upcoming version 9 does serve up a few tasty tidbits for the Opera aficionado, however. Although we were unable to test these features, the company says the final version will include support for widgets, small external programs that use Opera’s engine and can run on the desktop. Existing widgets for other programs can display the weather, show Webcams, and much more. Users will also be able to choose which Web sites can run JavaScript or display images. And the impressive built-in RSS feed handler, which we tried in the beta, now supports Atom 1.0 (a newer protocol similar to RSS).

You can read the full article here

Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, or Ajax seen a huge splurge in popularity in the last few months.More and more webdevelopers are starting to use it.The new Yahoo mail beta also uses Ajax extensively.However, only very few people from the US have got the oppertunity to test it.However, it is possible to implement Ajax even in the classic Yahoo mail with the help of addons made by Vivek Jishtu.
You can download them from here.
Direct Download Links:
For Firefox.
For Opera.
[For installing the userjs follow this guide.]
Screenshot1
Screenshot2

If we are to believe the scientists then the answer is yes. Not only that, according to them the day when this may become possible is much closer than one may think.
Scientists have already succeeded in creating the building blocks of life i.e. the DNA virtually from dust. In fact you can order custom designed DNA’s from DNA 2.0!
In 2003 scientists managed to build a virus from scratch in 2 weeks.The details of the experiment is available at nature.com.
Back in October this year ( 2005 ) Nova Science broadcasted a wonderful documentary summarizing the ongoing efforts in creating Artificial Life. You can download the video from here.Those of you on dial-up can read the transcript here.
In case you are interested in the techniqual details you can check out this artcle byJack W. Szostak.

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W3C or the World Wide Web Consortium has opened it’s office in India.It is hosted by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing at Noida. In case you don’t know what W3C is check this Wikipedia entry.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public, work together to develop standards for the World Wide Web. W3C’s mission is: “To lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web”.
Their Indian site is available at http://www.w3cindia.in/ and also Documents of W3C are available now in Marathi, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu and Kannada.
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