Home is where my......Files....are!!!

I haven't come across something simpler than this to access the files on my computer at home or office from any place on the earth. Absolutely simple to setup, access and sync between home & office computers. Especially useful for a person like me who keeps travelling across countries all the time. Wonder why I didn't check it out before.

Although it appears to be absolutely simple to setup and start accessing files, I'm not sure how far it's reliable in terms of security. It seems to be pretty fast for the kind of security that they promise. If it really is supposed to be good then it is nothing short of a miracle. I guess if this tool seems to be as reliable as they claim it to be then data-loss could be a thing of the past. I know there are many back-up solutions out there, but this one surely does the job for a person like me.

Truly....HOME would definitely be where my files are. FolderShare is like a \\HOME away from C:\HOME!!!

P.S.: I'm off to Darmstadt this weekend. Gonna attend my convocation at my university. After that I'm gonna visit a friend at Karlsruhe. Will post more about my weekend trip soon.

Wiki for Dappaankuthu???

I got a mail from my friend this morning (just another good morning mail) and was shocked to see a wiki entry for 'Dappankuthu'. For all those who have no idea what this is, you've got to check it out here. The best part about it is, the friend who sent me this link is working as a System Engineer for AUTOSAR, the other part about him is that he is probably the best Dappankuthukaaran in Germany ;-)!!!

The Key Problem

Just 100m to get home and I start fumbling for my keys. I reach inside my pockets and pull out some keys to notice that they are my office keys. I keep fumbling again and finally manage to pull out my room keys. Once I've got the right set of keys, I almost always insert the wrong key to open the door. After getting things right again, I get inside and climb up 4 floors and again insert the wrong key to get into my apartment. By this time I'm a done deal.

Think it's over? I bet its not. Next morning I need to get to the office and the same thing repeats again. Except this time its the entry to the office. I don't know why but I don't seem to have any luck with keys. It's almost like the keys are allergic to me or probably they want to take some revenge for treating them badly.

Why can't we have a world without keys? How I would love to just push a door to open it. A door that can recognize me and grant me access without the need for keys. No keys to remember and no keys to forget. No more jingling noises from my trousers when walking around that gives the people an idea that I'm wearing steel briefs. No more access cards that need to be swiped everytime. No more passwords to remember. Why can't things be simple? I think no two people in this world have the same characteristics, not even twins, not even clones. So why don't we come up with some system that recognizes us as humans. Just like mom sees me coming home and opens the door. When I was a kid I could recognize that my dad was back just from the sound of his scooter and his shoes.

I think security needs to be made as simple as possible. Instead of increasing the complexity of keys, I think we need to eliminate them totally. We need to sit back and go back to nature and learn to implement what we learn using technology in our daily lives. The future is towards making things simpler.

I wish there comes a day soon when I never need to carry any keys with me. That way I can get rid of the "Oh no..I've forgotten the keys to my room in my friend's place" syndrome. The key to solving the key-problem is - NO KEY!!!

Is it Friday today???

Just one of those usual mornings today. Got up at 7 and went around with the morning chores. All the while I was thinking, "Gosh its Thursday, I can't wait for Friday". Had this gloomy look on my face.

Before I could leave I happened to check out the weather on my desktop (I do that all the time before I step out) and to my disbelief realized that "Today is Friday!!!" I was like Yippeeeeeeee. I wanted to confirm again so I checked the date on my watch, on my computer, my cellphone and the international time and date website. I was assured that today is indeed Friday. Phew what a great relief. I really got to experience the bliss of the term, "Thank God its Friday". Weekend is just round the corner.

Weekend Update (02.-03.Sep)

Heard the story 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin'? I literally lived that story during the weekend. It was a wonderful trip to meet my friend there. I went there with another friend who lives here in Cologne. Had to get up early to take the train at 6:21 in the morning. Reached Hamelin on time at 10:10. My friend was waiting at the station. Took the bus from the station to his place. It's a small place so it just took about 5 minutes.

After taking a small break in his room, we immediately left to go to the city-centre. It was filled with people, eating and drinking and shopping around. We noticed a line of imprints of rats (in white) on the road. I heard that it represents the path taken by the Pied Piper to drive the rats out of the city. Also saw a statue of the piper. Everywhere you look, you will find something with a connection to the story of the piper.

My friend treated us at a Mexican Restaurant for lunch. I tried something called 'Chicken Enchiladas'. Mmmmmh it tasted yummy, but a lot of cheese. We didn't wanna get drunk so just settled down with just a glass of beer (type was called 'Ratskeller', typical of Hamelin). After lunch we were just walking around the shopping center and then got home to take a break.

In the evening we climbed a small hill that was about 800m tall. Got a good view of the place from there, also tried a panaromic shot of the town (the stitch wasn't so good though, you can see it under the title of this blog). After that we went back to the city-center and had some ice-cream. Later on saw some live band playing at a Summer-Fest and finished the day with dinner at a Greek Restaurant. I tried some Giros. It got me filled to the nose with meat. It was a tiring day. Got back to my friend's room around midnight. It was surprizing to see that the town went dead around midnight, unlike Cologne where the party just starts at that time.

Got up pretty late the next day. We just had time to cook lunch. I wanted to make some cauliflower manchurian, but finally got to know that none of the required ingredients were available. Had to settle down with something close to it. Took about an hour to finish frying the two cauliflowers that my friend bought. My friend made some nice carrot and peas kurma. Once that was done, we had lunch and left for Cologne.

Hamelin was a different place compared to Cologne. You get to experience serenity in its truest form there. Pretty refreshing for someone living amidst the hustle and bustle of a big city like Cologne. Moreover, visiting this place reminded me of the school days when I read about the piper's story or saw it on TV. A truly refreshing weekend indeed!

'Dream Gadget' - Tag Pickup

- Tagged by Anu.

I've probably dreamed of many, but would like to list a few here:

1. Auto-Drive Car: Hop in. Enter your destination. Reach in comfort.

2. Automatic-Cooking System: Fill up the different containers with sambar podi, masala podi, chilli powder, turmeric powder and all spices. Separate sections for vegetables, chicken etc. Select your menu. Relax. The system checks if everything needed for the menu is available and does all the cooking. (Pretty realistic na?). An add-on could be an inventory system that automatically orders stuff from the store.

3. 3D Projection Goggles: Can be used as a monitor to display anything in the 3D space available within our angle of vision. Can be integrated along with the car navi-system to show maps/directions/instructions as we drive. (Reduces risk of accidents as we don't need to take our eyes off the road). Virtually replaces any display device.

4. Automatic Bathing Suite: Step-in. Refresh. Step-out.

.....and....probably the most significant to me......

5. RFID2 System (Rapidly Found If Displaced RFID System): This system consists of absolutely small tags that can literally be stuck to anything and a satellite based scanner that is connected to the net with an online-interface. Purpose - To find anything that 'I' don't, from.....anywhere!