From laptops to ultrabooks

1. Why to buy an ultrabook in the first place?
Ultrabook is basically characterized by it's longer battery life (7 hrs.), medium to high performance (based on cost), lighter weight (<1.5 kg) and thinner frame (<22 mm). In my opinion a laptop should weigh less so that we can carry it conveniently and maximize it's usage. After all, this itself mostly differentiates it from a desktop. But for using a device on the go implies a better battery life.

But now there is a catch. If the manufacturer provides a larger battery, then the laptop's weight increases which in turn again hampers it's mobile usage. Breaking this vicious circle is what makes ultrabooks costlier than normal laptops.

2. Factors to consider for selecting your suitable ultrabook:
Remember a state flow diagram as given below---
'->' means 'depends on'


device weight -> screen size + battery
Generally, 11 inch screens have lesser weight as compared to 13 inch screens for obvious reasons.
Similarly, 8 cell battery will weigh more than a 6 cell battery.

device battery -> processor + standby time
More powerful the processor, more heat it dissipates, more the cooling required and thus results in faster battery drain.
Thus, for greater standby time we need to compromise either on processor or get a bulkier battery.

Speaking of processors, there are mostly two brands as of now --- Intel and AMD.
Intel is better, costlier and more famous of the two. This is because Intel provides more overall performance and is manufactured using the latest die technology (22 nm) unlike AMD. AMD processors are known to provide better integrated graphics support. But AMD is relatively cheaper.

Basically, Intel is much ahead than AMD in the race for balancing processor performance with it's heat dissipation.
The heat given out by a processor is known by a parameter called TDP (Thermal desigh power).
Lesser the value, more the standby time. (Performance may be hampered if cost remains constant).

You may check the latest Intel Core i5 processors at
http://ark.intel.com/products/family/65504

Note:
1. Core i3 processors have lower TDP values as compared to Core i5 ones.
2. "mobile processor series" are used in ultrabooks (from drop down list).
3. Letter "U" suffixed to processor name implies "Ultra low power".

device performance -> processor + SSD (solid state drive)
Device performance is largely dependent on it's processor more than any other thing.
A SSD helps to boost up performance further by enabling faster boot times and faster response.
This is because SSD does not have any moving parts (no RPM!!!). This also helps to cut down weight,
consume lesser power and to have longer device life. But they are quite costly.

Different ways to check on latest ultrabook brands:

Way 1
Instead of manually searching in each vendor's site or goggling for "top 10 ultrabooks", you may browse
to Intel's site and select a vendor from a common list provided by Intel itself.

Browse to below link:
http://www.intel.in/content/www/in/en/ultrabook/ultrabook-showcase.html

Way 2
Or you can browse to
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Laptop-Search.8223.0.html

Enter the exact processor model from the Intel link given earlier in the search form above and hit
search to get an exhaustive list of notebooks along with their costs, ratings and reviews.

Ex: Select "Intel Core i5-3317U" from processor field and see the results!!!

Further tips
In Intel -> select (lower TDP + higher generation and series within generation)

Extras -> wifi adapter, usb 3.0, bt 4.0, ethernet port, card reader, optical disk drive.

Java OCJP quick review points

These are the quick review points that I assembled into a text file while studying OCJP for my campus placement. It also contains the important topics to be covered in Java for cracking technical interviews.
I hope others could get some quick review of Java language via reading it.

It is just 300 lines of text which includes the most peculiar and interesting features that I was able to found in the 1000 page OCJP book.

I have also included a smaller file of java data structures which can also serve as an important tool for last minute revision.

A small preview of the file:

---------------------------------------PREVIEW---------------------------------------------------------

assert keyword
java has printf("sas %d hbgvhnd",arg1);
enum constant declarations, constructors, values(), valueOf("a") inbuilt methods
each enum constant is a final, static reference that stores the reference value of an object of the enum type.
finalize()
daysInMonth = new int[] {31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31};
int[] mXnArray[]; // 2-dimensional array
unboxing
even references are passed by value in java
final keyword means constant
public static void publish(int n, String... data) ---- varargs, always last parameter
public static void main(String... args) // Method header
javac -s "D:\study files\p1" -d . Heron.java   ---- package file structure compilation
javac -cp /top/bin -d ../bin A.java --- cp is class path used for searching class files
-cp /pgjc/work:/top/bin/pkg:.  ---- search in work, then bin, then curr dir by order
>java -jar bundledApp.jar
>javac -cp /top/lib/gui.jar:/top/lib -d /top/bin MyApp.java
>java -DFontSize=18 SysProp os.name java.version appName FontSize   ---- -D means define system property

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Links:

1. http://www.mediafire.com/?zp49ge2ns5fvdj8 --- scjp.txt

2. http://www.mediafire.com/?xy6842he5w7d9r3 --- datastruct.txt

Draw engineering block diagrams online

Use this site:

https://www.draw.io/

Features:

1. Draw directly without any ads or delay.

2. Export to PNG.

3. It is free to use.

4. Works well even on slow internet connections.

I drew my software's prescriptive architecture here in 5 minutes.

Please recommend this to all your friends.

New E learning sites for engineering and applied sciences

Here are the three best sites featuring free online video lectures from the top universities of the world.

1. coursera.org is the biggest site having many courses active or planned in the near future.
You can get courses like cryptography and social network analysis from universities like stanford, michigan, etc.

2. edx.org is a relatively newer but equally good site having subjects like AI from University of Berkeley and a few others.

3. nptel.iitm.ac.in is a joint effort from the iits and the iiscs in India. It features lectures from Indian top professors on topics like natural language processing, etc.

All these sites offer certificates and teacher's recommendations to anyone who qualifies any of the supplied courses. At the end of each course there is a test to qualify the course completion.

Do post your experiences and help to spread the word....

Watch free streaming movies online on your Android device

This method allows you to watch instantly and even download latest free online movies from www.1channel.ch directly from your Android smartphone or tablet.

You will need three Android apps---
1. Hubi
2. MX player or vmplayer
3. Web browser

Best part is that it avoids the use of Adobe Flash player which is a great benefit for Android 4.1+ users.

As all of you know running Flash movies on browsers also consumes much CPU, gives an error prone experience, needs Ad blockers and drains away battery easily.

Playing an HTTP video in native player is much user friendly. You can also take advantage of Hardware acceleration.

Steps:

1. Browse to your favorite movie link on 1channel and copy-paste it to Hubi client.

2. Hubi will extract the actual HTTP video link from the website link. It has two options - download or play live.

3. Open and play movie via any native player like MX player or vmplayer.

Hubi supports popular file sharing sites like putlocker.com and veehd.com

Voila!!! Enjoy movie watching and do post your comments.

Boost internet speed for free with UK VPN

For all wired and wireless users who are experiencing fluctuating internet speed at daytime or other peak hours, now you can use a high speed free VPN situated in the UK.

Just log on to http://uk.newfreevpn.com/ and follow the steps to setup the VPN for your respective operating system.
Authentication Details:
PPTP Server: ukvpn.newfreevpn.com
PPTP Username: free
PPTP Password: 1234 

Whats more, it works in Windows and Android both and its ad free!!!
Also, you will also get additional encryption security via the VPN which can prevent anybody from sniffing your confidential information over an unsecured line. Especially applicable when surfing over public WiFi environment.

I have personally tested it with YouTube and Dailymotion. Both are working like a charm.
You can also unlock UK specific web resources like BBC iPlayer, etc.

For a great tutorial on how to set up a VPN in Windows 7 follow this link:
https://www.ipredator.se/guide/pptp/windows7

Another high speed VPN server details are at http://www.freevpnservers.com/free-vpn-account/.
It plays YouTube videos like a charm.

Also try these newer sites-
http://www.justfreevpn.com/

Server:  uk.justfreevpn.com
PPTP Username:  justfreevpn
PPTP Password:  <check site>


http://www.securitykiss.com offers a limited data VPN service with a transfer limit of 300 MB per day.
It offers great speed due to its fair usage policy and fully supports both desktop and mobile platforms.
You just need to create your own free account to get your VPN credentials. It supports L2TP/IPSEC technology too which offers greater security than PPTP VPN.

Five moves that BSNL can take to improve broadband speed

BSNL is mostly famous for its wide reach, lower tariff and good network up time.

But many people, like me, do not get their maximum subscribed internet speed during peak hours. This is mainly due to overloaded backbone network of BSNL. The edge routers which make the transition to a foreign network like TATA, Reliance, Level 3  etc. are overloaded and hence the users get lesser speed during peak hours.

This may be minimized by doing some improvements.
1.) BSNL must improve its backbone network utilization by moving all the bandwidth intensive activities inside its own network. There is a lot of redundant bandwidth inside the network due to presence of optical fibers, but sadly it cannot be used much because major servers like YouTube caching servers lie outside the network.
All the other network biggies like VSNL, Reliance Comm, Airtel and even Spectranet have their own dedicated YouTube caching servers. But BSNL still relies on VSNL server for streaming YouTube videos. If BSNL had its own dedicated server inside its own network then a major data consumption problem would get solved then and there.
Thus, BSNL must setup its own YouTube caching server.

2.) Other thing is that it should also install a network looking glass within its network like Reliance, Tata, Airtel, etc. It would surely help in debugging network and routing problems remotely and customers can also get a proof of the state-of-the-art network of BSNL. End users can also use it to perform trace route from within BSNL network to their respective networks.

3.) Another thing is that the DNS mapping of BSNL servers is flawed. I am especially talking about mapping of domain names of some very popular CDNs like Akamai. Here what happens is that even though BSNL has an Akamai server within its own network (210.212.*.*), its DNS servers tend to resolve domains like "cdn.blinkx.com" to IP addresses belonging to VSNL, NTT America, etc. This finally results in wastage of international bandwidth because the content will then be fetched from far off networks when it actually lies within the ISP's own network.
What's the use of a CDN if you still want to download from remote servers?

4.) BSNL should try to enhance the cluster router capacity that facilitates connection with international networks like Tinet, Level 3, CWW, etc. If possible provide more number of edge routers and that too spread them evenly across the globe. At present all the routers connecting to Tinet, Level 3 and CWW are situated in the US. So if packets have to travel to UK then initially they must go via US!

5.) And finally, BSNL should also partner with other CDNs like Limelight Networks and EdgeCast.
Airtel already has partnered with these CDNs for getting better network performance.

The above points should be taken seriously if BSNL Broadband intends to stay in competition with Airtel, Tata, Reliance and even 3G, 4G service providers.