All of you must have heard graphics card benchmarked , processors and motherboards put to the grill and most of us have argued 5,55,555 times that which configuration gets the brownies within the least bucks.

Get ready for a different kind of "benchmarking " test altogether !! Its more of a comparison test rather which gives the actual performance data but still worth a look.

My friend Nim$ ( a.k.a Nirmal ) compared a 40,000 BC stone with a brand new and a swanky iphone on his blog and guess what the phone won !! Ya, but only by a small margin...

Cant believe ?? Have a look yourself....


HERE


NOTE: My friend is having some problems with the post comments link on his blog as he was tinkering with the layout... You may leave them here if you desire !!

cheers,
vandit (on behalf of Nim$).

Preparing for a GD ?? or just want to deal with the guys who are responsible for the current economic scenario ?? or just want to cut the crap and know how this situation was created and is spoiling your Christmas celebrations ?? So here you go !! The root cause of sub-prime crisis or the recession , as we call it, explained . Ok its a bit long for Vandit's " 5 " minuters but it does explain the basics well . Hope you give me some brownie points for this post .... you know what I mean ;)

Sub prime loan :

Sub-prime loans are dicey as they are given to people with unstable incomes or low creditworthiness. These individuals are not financially sound enough to be given a loan when judged under the strict standards that should normally be followed by a bank or lending institution.

 

What is subprime crisis? How it caused financial mayhem?

It all begins with an American wanting to live the famed American dream.

So he seeks a housing loan to give shape to his dream home. But there is a slight problem. He doesn't have good credit rating. This means that he is unable to clear all the stringent conditions that a bank imposes on an individual before it sanctions a loan.

No bank will give him a home loan as there is a fear that the chances of a default by him are high. And Banks don't like defaulters.

But lo!, before the American dream can fade away, there enters a second American -- usually a robust financial institution -- who has good credit rating and is willing to take on some amount of risk.

Also by giving out a home loan to lots of individuals, the second American is trying to hedge his bets. He feels that even if a few of his borrowers default, his overall position would not be affected much, and he will end up making a neat profit.

Now if this home loan market is sub-prime, what is prime? The prime home loan market refers to individuals who have good credit ratings and to whom the banks lend directly.

Now let's get back to the sub-prime market. The institution giving out loans in the sub-prime market does not stop here. It does not wait for the principal and the interest on the sub-prime home loans to be repaid, so that it can repay its loan to the bank (the prime lender), which has given it the loan.

So what does the institution do?

It goes ahead and securitises’ these loans. Securitisation means converting these home loans into financial securities, which promise to pay a certain rate of interest. These financial securities are then sold to big institutional investors.

Many investment banks (or institutions like the second American' in our story) sold complicated securities that were backed by debt which was very risky.

And how are these investors repaid? The interest and the principal that is repaid by the sub-prime borrowers through equated monthly instalments (EMIs) is passed onto these institutional investors.

The institution giving out the sub-prime loans takes the money that it gets by selling the financial securities and passes it on to the bank he had taken the loan from, thereby repaying the loan. And everybody lives happily ever after…………………………..Or so it would have seemed.

The sub-prime home loans were given out as floating rate home loans. A floating rate home loan as the name suggests is not fixed. As interest rates go up, the interest rate on floating rate home loans also go up. As interest rates to be paid on floating rate home loans go up, the EMIs that need to be paid to service these loans go up as well which hit the sub-prime borrowers hard. A lot of them in the first place had unstable incomes .

They, thus, defaulted. Once more and more sub-prime borrowers started defaulting, payments to the institutional investors who had bought the financial securities stopped, leading to huge losses.

The problem primarily began with the United States keeping its interest rates very low for a very long time, thus encouraging Americans to go in for housing loans, or mortgages. Lower interest rates led to buyers wanting to take on bigger loans, and thus bigger and better homes.

But life was fine. With the American economy doing well at that time and housing prices soaring on the back of huge demand for real estate and bigger and better homes, financial institutions saw a mouth-watering opportunity in the mortgage market.

In their zeal to make a quick buck, these institutions relaxed the strict regulatory procedures before extending housing loans to people with unstable jobs and weak credit standing.

Few controls were put in place to handle the situation in case the housing bubble’s burst. And when the US economy began to slow down, the house of cards began to fall.The crisis began with the bursting of the United States housing bubble.

A slowing US economy, high interest rates, unrealistic real estate prices, high inflation and rising oil tags together led to a fall in stock markets, growth stagnation, job losses, lack of consumer spending, a virtual halt to new jobs, and foreclosures and defaults.

Sub-prime homeowners began to default as they could no longer afford to pay their EMIs. A deluge of such defaults inundated these institutions and banks, wiping out their net worth. Their mortgage-backed securities were almost worthless as real estate prices crashed.

The moment it was found out that these institutions had failed to manage the risk, panic spread. Investors realized that they could hardly put any value on the securities that these institutions were selling. This caused many a Wall Street pillar to crumble.

Well, that still does not explain, why stock markets in India, fell? Here's why. . .

Institutional investors, who had invested in securitised paper from the sub-prime home loan market in the US, saw their investments turning into losses. Most big investors have a certain fixed proportion of their total investments invested in various parts of the world. So... Once investments in the US turned bad, more money had to be invested in the US, to maintain that fixed proportion.

In order to invest more money in the US, money had to come in from somewhere. To make up their losses in the sub-prime market in the United States, they went out to sell their investments in emerging markets like India where their investments have been doing well.

Since the amount of selling in the market is much higher than the amount of buying, the Sensex began to tumble.

The flight of capital from the Indian markets also led to a fall in the value of the rupee against the US dollar. This crisis is spreading from sub-prime to prime mortgages, home equity loans, to commercial real estate, to unsecured consumer credit (credit cards, student loans, auto loans), to leveraged loans that financed reckless debt-laden leveraged buy outs, to municipal bonds, to industrial and commercial loans, to corporate bonds, to the derivative markets whose risk are indeterminate, etc.

It has been a total systemic failure that has its roots in the US real estate and the sub-prime loan market.

 

- Vandit. ( A relaxed EPWOM now !! ........but still an EPWOM :(  )

Some questions have multiple answers while some leave you wandering in the deserts of Arabia and you cant even figure out their answers after thousands of years of practicing penance and austerity.

Here are some questions that are troubling the crap out of me since I was a child, playing in the sand and riding on a bicycle ( Hercules topgear ; green , 5 gears and suspension - front and rear  ) I tried hard , stretched my imagination , even studied the theory of relativity and nuclear fission/fusion, solved Sherlock Holmes puzzles 3 days on trot  , I couldnt sleep , I turned insomniac for a few days , I did some soul-searching but still no answers to these questions :

1.  How does an ant (and other debris ) find a way into the nooks and corners of the keyboard ? And even more baffling is why doesn't it show the same determination to get the hell out of there ??

2. Why do the cockroaches happen to hang around people who hate them the most eventually being smashed around and people standing around there knighting the bashers with adjectives like ruthless, cold-blooded and heartless ? No its isn't entomophobia (or whatever it is called.) I just get a feeling that once I sleep they will go haywire and crawl around me .

3. Why doesn't the batman get a shock himself when he wears the mask and activates the "do not take my mask off" feature(if such kind of button does exist) (remember the joker trying to take off his mask ... gets a shock.)

4. Why the Internet connection goes kaput only at the time when you need it the most  or when the download approaches 99% completed ?? (Even this post was published way beyond the schedule due to connection problems due to some undersea cables getting ripped off. ) (I had a bad head-ache figuring this one out !!)

5. How can Jason Bourne survive and even chase  (and jump off buildings ) a gangster after a car blast just next to him and the person standing 10 feet away losing his life ??

6. Why does the king-pin need an entire magazine of bullets shot at him to perish while for others thugs only a punch would suffice ?? Common directors give some food for thought !!

7.  Why is James Bond stripped off his gadgets ?? (looks like recession has hit 'em really bad !! )

8. Why do the total number of bugs in any software remain the same ??

9. Why do the laptop prices seem to get slashed by atleast 25 % just after you have got yourself a new one ??

10. Why do people render a software useless if a single error is detected or a feature gets left out at the first instance when developed by rookie programmers ; when Orkut , after 8 years ( god knows how many .. ) of existence , is still in the beta version and has got many more bugs apart from being designed by the pros ??

11. Why does Ankit Fadia come to colleges and give out a list of spoofing sites and go away , rather than teaching how to secure the computers or even teaching the approach to hacking ?? (He is meant to "Teach"  " Ethical hacking " and "security " ! )

12. And lastly how does Open Source Software get so much capital so as to send out free CDs/DVDs containing their OS everywhere on the globe . Even just the media costs Rs 20... have you forgotten about the shipping charge ....eh ?

13. Why do Linux freaks and mac chauvinists ( no one targeted ) do not fight amongst themselves and instead take on windows fanboys ??

14. And lastly... as goobimama pointed out .... How does Rajnikant dodge off bullets ??

Hope you figure out the truth behind these unsolved mysteries and shed the light of knowledge and wisdom on my turbulent mind.

 

LOLZ

- Vandit Khamker.  

Its official !! Risky's yahoo account has been hacked !! I dont know the cause but I suspect he has become the victim of someone posting a link on his orkut profile and he, innocently(foolishly) clicking on it.
Hey risky dont feel demoralised and assume that you are the only fool on this planet. More than 60% of computer intrusion , hacking cases are due to negligience on the user's part.

So here is my unofficial guide to Protecting privacy on internet.


1. Dont post your pic on your profile. I used to do it earlier but now I have become more cautious in that matter .

2. Dont give your ''real'' address on social networking sites. Even on other sites, do so if the site / organistion is trustworthy and well known.

3. Make sure that the pin number you give for purposes other than freelancing and business transactions is wrong.

4. Install a good antiphishing filter and even better antivirus and update it regularly.

5. Also install a good anti spyware software like spybot-search and destroy. Also make sure if you are surfing for

6..Dont fall for schemes for earning money which just give money for surfing for an hour.most of such sites are malicious and give out the databases of private details at dirt cheap prices to telenetworking companies. Ever wondered how telemarketeers get your home phone nos.??

7. Keloggers and pesky friends who would just do anything to get hold of your orkut\myspace\facebook account are even more dangerous than viruses. Be very strict regarding these.

8. Dont visit porn sites. They will install some kind of spyware or keyloggers on your computer more often than not.

9. If your antivirus doesnt have a built-in firewall than dont rely on the default windows firewall. Get a good firewall like zone alarm.

10. Dont wade off instructions that orkut gives.(eg. Dont click on suspicious links from your profile.).I have heard numerous cases where this has lead to their accounts being hacked and then they cry like a silly kid who has droped his ice cream on the floor.

11. Avoid going to cybercafes as much as possible. Most of them dont take necessary precautions to safe gaurd their terminals. I have noticed some of them still using win 98 and XP sans the sercive packs. And even yahoo messenger 5.0 which opens up vulnerabilities.

Hope this article has helped you. I am sure you will be more cautious the next time a link in your scrapbook promises to show you some magic or ''wonderful'' things.

Be preactive and not proactive.
Vandit.

So you bunked too many classes this semester ?? or just too tired to get hold of your book (...maybe due to its weight ..) ?? or just want to study the techie way ?? Here is your en-route.

NPTEL is an acronym for National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning which is an initiative by all seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for creating course contents in engineering and science.

Five major engineering disciplines have been covered in this project so far (NPTEL Phase I) at the undergraduate (B.E./B.Tech) level.

1. Civil Engineering
2. Computer Science and Engineering
3. Electrical Engineering
4. Electronics and Communication Engineering
5. Mechanical Engineering

Basically, Senior Profs of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have recorded video of their lectures on the above subjects and they have been hosted at Youtube.these are high quality lectures . The course contents focus mainly on engineering and science.

So here is the list of the lectures....keep visiting the official website of this program http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/ to get latest updates on courses .

• Civil Engineering

  1. Building Materials and Construction

  2. Engineering Geology

  3. Environmental Air Pollution

  4. Fluid Mechanics

  5. Introduction to Transportation Engineering

  6. Mechanics of Solids

  7. Prestressed Concrete Structures

  8. Soil Mechanics

  9. Strength of Materials

  10. Structural Analysis II

  11. Surveying

  12. Water & Wastewater Engineering

  13. Water Resources Engineering

• Computer Science Engineering

  1. Artificial Intelligence | Artificial Intelligence - Prof. P. Dasgupta

  2. Computer Architecture

  3. Computer Graphics

  4. Computer Networks

  5. Computer Organization

  6. Data Communication

  7. Data Structures and Algorithms

  8. Database Management System

  9. Design & Analysis of Algorithms

  10. Discrete Mathematical Structures

  11. Internet Technologies

  12. Introduction to Computer Graphics

  13. Introduction To Problem Solving & Programming

  14. Principles of Programming Languages

  15. Software Engineering

  16. Systems Analysis and Design

• Core Science

  1. Biochemistry

  2. Engineering Chemistry

  3. Engineering Mechanics

  4. Engineering Physics II

  5. Mathematics

  6. Numerical Methods and Programing

  7. Concept & Evolution of Management thought

• Electrical Engineering

  1. Analog ICs

  2. Basic Electrical Technology

  3. Broadband Networks

  4. Chaos, Fractals, and Dynamical Systems

  5. Circuit Theory

  6. Control Engineering

  7. Digital Circuits and Systems

  8. Digital Communication

  9. Digital Integrated Circuits

  10. Digital Signal Processing

  11. Digital Systems Design

  12. Electro Magnetic Fields

  13. Embedded Systems

  14. Energy Resources and Technology

  15. Illumination Engineering

  16. Industrial Automation and Control

  17. Industrial Instrumentation

  18. Intelligent Systems and Control

  19. Networks and Systems

  20. Networks, Signals and Systems

  21. Power Electronics

  22. Power System Generation Transmission Distribution

  23. Power System Analysis

  24. Solid State Devices

• Electronics Engineering

  1. Basic Electronics: Dr.Chitralekha Mahanta | Prof T.S.Natarajan

  2. Basic Electronics - High Resolution

  3. Digital Image Processing

  4. Digital VLSI System Design

  5. Digital Voice and Picture Communication

  6. Electronics For Analog Signal Processing: Part - I | Part - II

  7. High Speed Devices & Circuit

  8. MEMS & Microsystems

  9. Power Electronics

  10. Power System Operations and Control

  11. Probability & Random Variables

  12. Transmission Lines and EM Waves

  13. Wireless Communication

• Mechanical Engineering

  1. Advanced Strength of Materials

  2. Computational Methods in Design & Manufacturing

  3. Design of Machine Elements

  4. Dynamics of Machines

  5. Finite Element Method

  6. Kinematics of Machines

  7. Manufacturing Processes II

  8. Mechanical Measurements and Metrology

  9. Principles of Mechanical Measurements

  10. Project and Production Management

  11. Refrigeration and Airconditioning

  12. Robotics

SO have fun !! Instead of wasting your bandwidth on youtube songs and *cough* * cough * other stuff on youtube .... better get hold of these useful videos !! Thanks to this institution for giving out these videos for free !!

Cheers.

Vandit Khamker.

 

Yes guys !! The DIGIT magazine had organized a "I love my mobile " contest wherein we had to write a review of the mobile phone we own !! I had an extensive practice of writing reviews lately (....courtesy endeavor ). I thought "why not write a review of my mobile just for practice sake ? " and so I wrote up a neat little review according to the format given by the organizers and submitted it and forgot about it !! It was until day before yesterday that I got he email from the DIGIT guys congratulating me as I was the runners up !! OMG...I was taken by surprise...I had forgotten about the contest and now I am one of the runners up !! I checked out the prize on stakes which came out to be rs. 2000 !! I am elated. The results have been also published in the December issue of DIGIT magazine and the 1st prize won that fellow 10,000 .. congrats dude (Whosoever it is !!).

Writing my blog and also the reviews of the novel I write as a curriculum at the endeavor classes helped me immensely . So far I have earned rs 2000 + 10.9 $ and counting( Google adsense earnings...in 2 months....your invaluable contributions ;-) )   and I am proud I did it just by typing on the QWERTY keyboards of my dell studio 15 laptop ,PC(assembled) , Sony Ericsson p1i. I feel honored that my writings bear some significance for others too !!

keep posting and writing comments !! cheers !!

Vandit.