sair.am's blog » computer

Why use Dropbox ?

Sairam Kunala — Sat, 15 May 2010 14:30:57 +0000

- What is this blog post about ? Why the questions ?
– This blog post is about Dropbox which is a very helpful desktop/mobile application that every individual would prefer to have . This solves one of the problems of an individual who are using a combination of both computers and smart phones. I wanted to show the positives and negatives of a software application in the form of a Q&A.

- What is Dropbox ?
– Dropbox is a storage solution to let you keep all your files in all your computers in sync. You can get upto 10.25 Gigs as a free user.

- Does Dropbox work on both Mac, Linux and iPhone ?
– It has a client written for almost all major OSes in the market and even has mobile devices clients for devices including iPhone and Android.

- What all can I store in Dropbox ?
– You can keep anything you want MAXing to 5 Gigs(s3 is the backend of Dropbox).Yes, all your private data can go in. It is secure as long as your password has not been compromised or Dropbox’s Amazon S3 account.

- How much data can you I keep in Dropbox ?
– Assuming you have enough bandwidth to sync 100Gigs in less than an hour at your home. Dropbox offers plans for 100Gigs for $20 per month, 50Gigs for $10 and 2Gigs for FREE . Referrals get you more space. Nothing extra for syncing even if it is 10 or 100 computers you own.

- I like it already . How do I get an account in Dropbox ?
– Follow this link . In case you are not still convinced with dropbox . Continue reading the Q&A.

- Are there any other services alternate to dropbox ?
– Yes, JungleDisk (competitive pricing but cost varies according to the no. of computers you have and it does not offer free accounts) , MobileMe is trying to catch up (their pricing is way off the charts) and couple of others.

- How can I get more space ? You said that I can get upto 10 Gigs – How ?
– You will be awarded more space when you refer more users and when the complete their setup of dropbox, you will get your 250MB.

- Would I get 1000Gigs if I refer 4000 users and they complete the setup ?
– Nope, There is a limit . You can get max of 8 Gigs extra off the 2.25 you initially get when you join as a free user. That’s their way of avoid misuse of the system.

- There is some feature missing in Dropbox that I see that would help lot more users . How can I suggest ?
– Yes, Votebox is the place. You get to vote on the features you would like . Your votes renew every month.

- How secure is dropbox ? Is it impossible to retain password if I lost it ?
– Dropbox uses Amazon’s s3 to store your data which follows AES-256 bit encryption which is supposedly very good. You can always retain your Dropbox password.

- 1Password to save all my passwords. Can I use it with Dropbox ?
– Yes, you can save the master file in Dropbox which syncs on to the web and keeps all your passwords secure and in sync.

- I would like to share files with other users in private ?
– Yes, it requires the user to have a dropbox account as well.

- How about allowing any user to share files with ?
– All the files you put in the Public Folder ( Ex: My Resume ) are accessible to the world. You are provided with the URL using which you can share. There are also gallery views to publish your photos – Sample Album.

- Where do I (Sairam Kunala) use it ?
– I use dropbox to save my e-books, software, s/w licenses, personal data, misc data which I require for a month or so and backups of my buxfer, delicious, firefox profile data and bunch of other things.

- More questions ?
– Watch the tour and go through the complete list of features on Dropbox

CrunchBase Information

Dropbox

Information provided by CrunchBase

my adobe cs5 on its way

Sairam Kunala — Fri, 14 May 2010 03:00:58 +0000

A friend from college helped me out get a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 5 on a discount. It’s a great thanks to him. The Windows version costs slightly less compared to the Mac version at Amazon

I started searching for tutorials and landed at TutsPlus . I started giving a thought about the positives and negatives of getting a getting a premium membership. I’d start with a 3 month pre-paid member ship as soon as I get my hands on my software . I need to start learning faster. Yes, I L0V3 art, and YES, I have a plan . The execution start month is August 2010.

Google maps routes across oceans

Sairam Kunala — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:31:54 +0000

This was the first time I tried this, trying to find routes between continents.

Please upgrade your browser

View Larger Map

I learnt that MacBookPro’s that are customized in a US Apple website would get shipped from China to your destination in US. Yes, its FEDEX , not bluedart couriers or professional couriers

Are interviews based on luck ?

Sairam Kunala — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:30:01 +0000

After attending few interviews , I wanted to see what others would want to say .

Flipkart’s service in India

Sairam Kunala — Sat, 08 May 2010 09:30:35 +0000

I have been trying to grab hold of a book . I have been trying to buy in a normal book store, but none of them have an unused copy. All of them looked like they were used or read by atleast 30 customers. Even Flipkart did not have this book In Stock and the feature of ‘Notify me when available‘ has become real handy. I was notified on 6th, ordered on the same day, Flipkart sent it on 7th and I received it on 8th .(Yup it was today that I got my hands on the book).

Buddha Vol. 1 by Osamu Tezuka

@flipkart – Thanks for the great service and for the discount.

How to clean all viruses/spyware on your Windows ?

Sairam Kunala — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:30:59 +0000

This article describes you how to clean all the known and unknown viruses and spyware on your Windows machine.
Note: The following method does not work for Windows 2000 and previous versions .

solution has been compiled from various sources

YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME . THERE IS NO FRIGGING WAY TO FIX IT. GET A MAC .

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!

Apple event 27th Jan – LIVE AT …

Sairam Kunala — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:50:09 +0000

Eagerly waiting for the iPad/iTablet/iSlate/iBox whatever they are going to call it . Though I don’t have use for it now.

Able to watch live at Ustream – http://www.ustream.tv/leolaporte
Webcam chat at Ustream

APPLE INVITATION :

Update: http://www.ustream.tv/oA streamed the video for about 114k+ users. Thanks to them I could follow the session (almost live)

experts exchange hack

Sairam Kunala — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:30:10 +0000

Technical questions(for computers) searched on google usually point to experts-exchange.com (i would give a 50-50 chance for this site to appear in the top 10 links when searched via Google) is a site which has the experts who exchange solutions, which requires registration which is not necessarily cheap.

So, how would you view the solution ? Solution is as simple as seeing it from Google.

You use the Google’s cache. Using Google’s cache illegal ? No, of course not, its been provided by Google for free. Experts-exchange is identifying Google bot when requested for a webpage content and responding with the actual data that is not shown to a normal user unless registered. You might need to scroll down to the end of the huge categories section to find the actual solution in experts-exchange. Pretty cool ha !

If you want to view a cached page that is present with Google, simple use “cache:http://blog.sair.am/” in Google Search

Happy Hacking !

Computer Peripherals in Kondapur

Sairam Kunala — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:30:59 +0000

I had a little problem handling several USB devices with only 4 ports on my desktop and 2 ports on my laptop. I felt its time for me to buy a USB 2.0 Hub.

USB 2.0 Hub (Zebtronics) : Rs.150/- . Did not find anything cheaper than Rs.300/- in ebay.in for USB 2.0, but found a lot within Rs.100/- for USB 1.1 which is closer to 4.8Mbps speed.
Male to Female USB A Type (USB Extender): Rs. 100/-
IDE Y Connector : Rs. 20/- . Found nothing less than Rs.60/- + shipping in ebay.
IDE to SATA Power Convertor: Rs. 10/- . Same as above. damn! sellers on ebay are really exploiting people

Shop Details:
Shiv Shakti Electronics Branch Office: Shop No. 2-41A/1/1, Kothaguda, Opp. Haveli Bar & Restaurant, Kondapur to Hafeezpet Raod, R.R. Dist. Phone: (040) 64577642, 9966957874, 9985669880 Website: www.shivshaktielectronics.com

Helpful for those living near Madhapur, Kondapur, Gachibowli in Hyderabad city.

Technology behind friendfeed opensource'd

Sairam Kunala — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:00:01 +0000

Tornado OpenSource Scalable,Non-blocking Webserver

Tornado which is an open source version of the scalable, non-blocking web server and and tools that power FriendFeed.

via techcrunch

Links:

Its time to revise Python !