I was searching for file synchronizing solution across multiple PC's and look what I found

I needed to access my keynote file from home as well as office. So I started looking for windows clone of popular rsync utility. Didn't find anything I like. One morning I has a Eureka moment and decided to install Subversion on my vps. After painful installation(some bash scripts were in DOS file format instead of UNIX, I wonder why) and spending almost a day Subversion was all set. Then it struck me to that I should have tried searching on techsupportalert. And look what I hit, another jackpot, https://www.foldershare.com/.

"Keep important files at your fingertips - anywhere. All file changes are automatically synchronized between linked computers, so you are always accessing the latest documents, photos, and files"

The interesting part about it is that Microsoft has recently acquired FolderShare, and is currently providing the service free of cost. A search on Google News reveals

"Just days after outlining its new software-based services strategy, Microsoft announced the acquisition of yet another offering to add to its growing portfolio of on-line services. Microsoft will hope to use FolderShare, a file-synchronization technology provider, to help it eclipse Sun's Open Office initiative and Google's own ambitious plans in this very same area."

"Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said the acquisition will help it bolster its new strategy of providing more software-based services over the Internet, an initiative called Windows Live that was announced earlier this week."

makes me go hummmm.

The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities

I usually try out all software in given category, before settling with one. But as fun as it is, its also very time consuming, so I usually consult download.com for user reviews of all the contenders. Popular download section also helps a lot. But this time I really hit jackpot, this guy has researched best available freeware utilities, in all of commonly used software categories. So if you are looking for Best Free Anti-Virus Software, Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover or Best Free Anonymous Surfing Service, look no further. The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities is the place to go. Also if you are looking for a software for a particular need then do google site search on techsupportalert.com
e.x. site:http://www.techsupportalert.com thesaurus

GoGoGo

Personal Content Management with Keynote

Keynote, an extraordinary tool for content management, one I was searching for very long. Everybody who uses dozens of text files should try using it, I assure you , you wont turn back.

Previously I used editplus for storing all kind of information in text files. The problem was managing these files. Every time I create a file I have to think of a name and place before I can be assured its saved on disk. Also each of these files had multiple sections, for e.g. copypaste.txt had sections like urls, scripts, logins. Finding information, as no of lines in file grow, becomes tedious.

Then Kenote came to the rescue. Keynote is a flexible, multi-featured tabbed notebook. The basic idea in KeyNote is that you can have many separate notes within a single file. It's always acessible with a single keypress (ctrl+shift+F12), even if you work in another application. This means that you do not need to open several files - for most purposes it is enough to create only one file and several notes inside it. With the addition of the tree-type notes, you now have a three-dimensional notebook: many notes within one file and a multi-level, nested pages within a single note. How cool is that ? Huh.

External files can be attached to a node, so you can view/edit your old text files in keynotes itself. Has keyboard shortcut for ever operation and cool keyboard navigation features.

There are only two things missing in keynotes 1. RegEx search and editplus style wordwrap (it has notepad style wordwrap.) Also project is no longer under development.

Nevertheless, I am a happy keynotes user. Now all I need is a notebook pc, so I can carry keynote with me where ever I go. Did I mention its opensource and free? Oh, it is :)
download it directly from here.
Go Go Go.

A Wonderful Voyage - Part 2

So I had reached Ethical egoism in my last voyage.

"Ethical egoism is belief that one ought to do what is in one's own self-interest. What is in one's self-interest may incidentally be detrimental to others, beneficial to others, or neutral in its effect. Ethical egoism is not to be confused with rational egoism, which holds that it is rational to act in one's self-interest, but not that it is ethically imperative."

This page had a single External Link: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Egoism. The word Stanford Encyclopedia made it a must read. Here egoism was defined as:

" Egoism can be a descriptive or a normative position. Psychological egoism, the most famous descriptive position, claims that each person has but one ultimate aim: her own welfare. Normative forms of egoism make claims about what one ought to do, rather than describe what one does do. Ethical egoism claims that it is necessary and sufficient for an action to be morally right that it maximize one's self-interest. Rational egoism claims that it is necessary and sufficient for an action to be rational that it maximize one's self-interest."

I just skimmed the page and the footer had a must-follow link prisoner's dilemma. How could I not resist clicking. But it was a dead link, so I turned again to Wikipedia.

"The classical prisoner's dilemma (PD) is as follows:
Two suspects A, B are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and having separated both prisoners, visit each of them and offer the same deal: if one testifies for the prosecution (turns King's Evidence) against the other and the other remains silent, the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence and the betrayer goes free. If both stay silent, the police can only give both prisoners 6 months for a minor charge. If both betray each other, they receive a 2-year sentence each."

Now this some juicy stuff. It had Game theory written all over it. I had come across this word few months back (thanks to Sandeep), but did not dwell much on it.

"Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics that studies strategic situations where players choose different actions in an attempt to maximize their returns"

"In addition to its academic interest, game theory has received some attention in popular culture. An important figure in game theory, John Nash was the subject of a 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind. Several game shows have adopted game theoretic situations, including the game show Friend or Foe.[1]"

Now it is added to my to read list ;)

Also before I end this voyage here a link to PDF document, I found on prisoner's dilemma page.

"A good introduction to game theory with a terse and accurate treatment of the prisoner's dilemma complete with a glossary of defined terms."

Astalavista.
May the force be with you ;)

A Wonderful Voyage - Part 1

Long back I had some (actually lots) ambiguity/curiosity regarding the difference in meaning of words Morality and Ethics. I did talk on this with some people (which I cannot recall now).
So today I decided to do some goggling on "ethics vs moral" . I was slightly surprised at number of direct results I found. I checked these results:

• deeperwants.com
• triberecords.net
• randomhouse.com
• humanists.net

It was an insightful read I found some really interesting examples differentiating the two.

1: "One of the Bible's teachings is that parents should kill unobedient sons or that prostitutes or even women who wear mixed fabrics should be stoned to death. Such acts were at one time considered moral and really for those who adhere to a literal interpretation and inerrancy of the Bible should be considered moral today. However, we would be hard pressed to find anyone in our present day culture espousing such behavior as ethical."
2: "So, as an example, although within our society it is commonly held that murder is immoral within the Mafia this deed would not only be ethical but, in the eyes of the group, necessary."

But still I did not get an single authoritative answer, that would satisfy me. So my next stop was Wikipedia. Here again I was surprised as I did not find any page directly discussing this topic. So I turned to searching word Ethics. The first paragraph said:

"Ethics is the branch of axiology – one of the four major branches of philosophy, alongside metaphysics, epistemology, and logic – which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to define that which is right from that which is wrong."

This rekindled my quest for learning philosophy and I just wanted to click on each of the four links and start reading. But I controlled my curiosity by saving the links and continued to read on. I came across another tempting word Moral absolutism

"Moral absolutism is the position that there are absolute standards against which moral questions can be judged, and that certain actions are right or wrong, regardless of the context of the act. "Absolutism" is often philosophically contrasted with moral relativism, (i.e. situational ethics) which holds that the morality of acts depends on the context of the act"

and here is an appropriate example of Moral absolutism:

"Modern human rights theory is a form of moral absolutism, usually based on the nature of humanity and the essence of human nature. One such theory was constructed by John Rawls in his A Theory of Justice."

So satisfied with the definition I returned to Ethics page. Quickly skimmed through it (its is a long page). And reached the "See also" section which was full of fabulous words like Consequentialism, Objectivist ethics, Situational ethics, Ethical nihilism, Ethical skepticism. But the word that caught my eye was Ethical egoism.

Right then I knew another voyage was about to begin.

A Wonderful Voyage - Part 2

What plant is this?

What plant is this?
Originally uploaded by Jigar Gosar.

Any guesses? No way, I am telling where I found it.

Attack of the killer bottle

Attack of the killer bottle
Originally uploaded by Jigar Gosar.

This is what happens when you go crazy with mobilephone cam. Half the credit goes to Sandeep Shetty.

Mumbai's Railway-Announcers are for REAL

This is from an interesting article from today's Times of India page 9, pointed out to me by Sandeep Shetty.

"Mumbai: When Suresh Vinarkar discusses politics with his friends on the train, everyone listens. They even ignore the announcement at the platform, to hear his views on Natwar Singh. Some stare in awe, others in disbelief, as he holds forth. But when a curious co-passenger asks him about his profession, Suresh stops talking. He simply flashes his identity-card that says "‘Railway Announcer, Dadar Terminus "— he knows by now that "“they wouldn't believe me otherwise". "

this reminds me of a conversation with Arsalan Zaidi, where he commented about the announcer at malad station. "i have been hearing this same voice(of a lady announcer) since past 4 years, it's surely recorded" and i agreed with him ;)

Hummm, what will I blog about?

• Interesting news I come across.
• Photos taken from my phone cam.
• Developer's toolbox - all tools that a developer must pack.
• Object Oriented Programming Principles
• Design Patterns.
• Software, Books, Games.
• And everything else that gives me a WOW effect.

I am wondering whether should I write a separate blog only for technical stuff or maintain a single blog?

For now I am sticking with this single blog, till I figure out "How many blogs do I need?"