Dreamer

e107 and where I fit in.

2010-03-11T20:32:00.000-08:00

I have been working with e107 for almost 4 yrs now.

e107 background: Those who don't know about e107.It's a PHP/MySQL CMS.For more details please visit http://www.e107.org .

My first interaction with e107: This CMS got my attention after I tested lots of other CMS's in open source arena and finally looked at the code to see how easy it will be to modify and tailor it to my use.Well code is well written and organised which make it easy to understand and this is what attracted me about e107.

My Contribution: I have been e107 community for almost 4 yrs.In this period of time I have coded 18 plugins for e107 most of them widely used.Although I haven't had much time due to my demanding job to code anything extra for e107.I haven't provided any upgrades since last 8 months.I think biggest reason for not doing any further work on e107 is due to awaited release of 0.8 version.

0.8 release and chaos in e107 community: There was lots of hype created about 0.8 release back in 2008 and its almost 2010 and so far 0.8 hasn't seen the light of the day.I offered to help with core code but so far I haven't heard anything from core development team.
Lots of other competent coders have also offered their services for core code development but seems like e107 community does not need us anymore that's why they come up some lousy excuse of 0.8 release which I don't think is going to happen anytime soon.

My ideas about e107 and final good bye: I really don't have much time to devote to the community and it becomes discouraging when all the hardwork seems to be wasted. Finally after much contemplation I have decided to stop any plugin development for e107 and probably very soon I will quit e107 support team to take my services to Drupal CMS.

to be continued.....

Archos 5 Internet Tablet 8GB Review

2010-02-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

I’ve been playing with the Archos 5 Internet Tablet for about 2 months now. I have the 8GB flash version, which is a gorgeous slab of electronics sized small enough to fit in a roomy pocket but large enough to keep next to your favourite armchair in lieu of a full size laptop.
Archos 5 is equipped with built- in wifi adapter and which is so far capable of connecting to any wireless network.Although,there is a downside to it that it disconnects if device is idle for few minutes and it is done to save battery power.
Other than that I haven't come across any downside with internet connectivity.
So far I have successfully used for remote connections and I can make FTP,SSH and Telnet connections to it and from it to any remote server.

After reading lots of reviews that rant about lack of google apps pre-intalled on the device it look like archo5 IT is nothing without google apps but in my opinion I think archos 5 IT pretty capable of doing anything that google apps can do.
If you still want to install google apps then there is a hack that works very well.
Archos 5 application library is pretty large and useful there are lots of free applications that are available to download and use.Almost all the apps that are available on Android market are available on archos 5 IT application library.

I can play .avi and other media formats except mp4 format which can not be played, here’s where I complain about Archos charging people $40 to unlock 720p WMV and MP4 playback. If Youtube does not work for out of the box then install google apps and use youtube application to play youtube media.If you want to avoid install google apps then try using google mobile and it will work.

For audio and video playback, the device handles everything with ease. Videos look great on the crisp 4.8-inch screen and the 800×480 resolution renders downscaled HD videos and standard-definition videos phenomenally. Music and videos come first, everything else comes second.

I was skeptical of Archos’ claim of 7-hour battery life for video playback,my surprise, the tablet hit 6 hours and 15 minutes before petering out and ofcourse I had to adjust brightness and sound level below maximum in order to achieve that which is acceptable because screen is still bright at 25% that you can easily walk in a dark room.That’s not too bad at all, especially considering I left the Wi-Fi connected the entire time.

Audio playback is handled via a simple interface that displays album artwork. I found the built-in speaker to be too tinny to listen to anything other than spoken-word podcasts – playing actual music sounds much better through a pair of decent headphones. Battery life for music playback is pegged at 22 hours and, again, those claims held up pretty well. I managed about 20 hours and 30 minutes with volume at 25% and Wi-Fi turned on.

GPS (called NDrive) works pretty well. Free 7-day trial and then $39 one-time unlock fee thereafter. There’s 3D navigation, turn-by-turn directions, quick satellite lock – turns the Archos 5 Internet Tablet into a serviceable GPS system for the car.I turned on GPS and instantly device located me which I think it is pretty fast compared to other GPS devices that take lots of time to lock the location.

Are you interested in an attractive, lightweight portable media player with great battery life that you can use mainly to consume audio and video files that have been directly downloaded or streamed across a local network? If so, you’ll like the Archos 5 Internet Tablet. You’ll get what you’re looking for along with the added bonus of a great web browser, pretty good GPS navigator, and a plenty of useful software.

Finally,if you love gadgets and want a mobile device then Archos 5 internet tablet is very good to have gadget.I will recommend anyone to buy it.

I am providing some useful links from youtube that will prove helpful for initial setup.

Overview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOpegRabe5I

Hack Install (Google Apps): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef_ODQplFbU

Enjoy!!

Weightloss Challenge

2010-01-25T20:33:00.000-08:00

What is Weight loss Challenge:

Healthtrax Wellness Centre organized this 2 and half month long weightloss challenge in which participating teams can not gain more than 12 pounds.Each team consisted of 4 members or less.Goal of this weightloss challenge was to motivate people for not gaining weight(I am concluding this from their terms and conditions).It started of well with more than ten teams participating in the contest.

My Team:
My team had three members of which only I and other member was regular at working for some personal our third member who is actually very sincere person could not work out.Infact she didn't had to workout because she is already skinny like a twig so of course she can't loose weight off of her bones :).

Game Plan:

Game plan for this challenge was very simple to go and workout and follow a strict routine so that we can loose maximum weight instead of gaining or being stagnant.
I started to workout from four days a week to seven days a week in order to win this challenge which actually back fired on me because my daily calorie intake was not enough to loose weight.I was working out more than needed due to which my body went in maintenance mode.Body goes in maintenance mode when persons daily calorie intake is not enough for body to keep up with the metabolism so in order to maintain metabolism body goes in maintenance mode and fat burning process stops and hence weight loss stops.

Mistake Rectification:

After first month of weight loss challenge I realised that I haven't lost any weight and instantly I knew what is wrong and went back to my old routine of four days a week due to which in my last one month of weight loss challenge I lost four pounds of weight.Although it is a very good progress but it was not good enough to win the challenge.
My second team mate lost eight pounds and third team mate did not gain or loose weight which was good considering her situation.In total my team lost twelve pounds of weight.

Change of Rule:

At some point of time Healthtrax realised that lots of people are loosing weight and they changed rule without even informing participants which I think was unfair and totally demotivating. Apart from change of rule, another mess that ticked me off was incorrect weight data in the final result that Healthtrax published while declaring the winners.
Person who weighed us in she did a good job of making sure that weight data is correct in the final result but some how weight data was wrong in the final result. At the end of the contest I was left with few unanswered questions.Which I am not bothered about anymore.

Outcome:

Finally, overall we all were winners unofficially because we benefited from the challenge by loosing some extra weight.

Healthtrax overall is a good place to workout and hangout and make new friends.Personally I like it.I will recommend people to join it.Once again I'm not endorsing it.It is just my personal opinion.
This type of weightloss challenges should be organised more often to keep people motivated.

Overall it was good experience.All is well that ends well.

WorkOut and Weightloss

2010-01-24T02:41:00.000-08:00

This is my first post to my blog and to start a blog I think weightloss and workout is much better topic than ranting about my problems or talking crap about government policies.

How it started:

I was constantly thinking about restarting workout because in my school days I used to workout and I was very active but after I joined my IT job I became sluggish and less active and my weight went up from 162 lbs to 180 lbs in 2 yrs time span.
One evening while I was playing tennis I realized I'm not fast enough to cover the court and it felt like I've to carry extra weight with me to run and to hit the ball.
Soon I started to notice changes in my pictures where my face seems to be growing like a balloon and I could easily see my second chin with the fat hanging on my face.Honestly,girls stopped noticing me which was one of my biggest concerns :).
After all this mental stress I decided to change everything for good.

Identifying the problem:
When an overweight person decides to loose weight first thing that strikes his/her mind is that they are eating way too much which is true in some cases but mostly it's not eating alot that makes us fat instead it's our daily routine that does the major damage.Some of you might argue otherwise, well indeed you are right there are different levels of obesities with different reasons and once again I will remind you that I'm writing about weight loss and my experience with it and not about obesity which of course, is not my area of expertise.
Being overweight is different from being obese although former may fall into later category.
Anyways,enough crap about obesity science.
I started to closely watch my eating habits and my daily routine.To my surprise I found out that I was not eating alot at all infact I was skipping my breakfast and I was eating little lunch and then dinner then how I gained weight?
Only outcome of all my analysis was TIME that is when I am eating my dinner as well as SKIPPING breakfast.

Starting workout:

Once I identified the root cause I decided to change my routine for good and start working out to solve overweight problem.
To solve the problem I first changed my routine,
Earlier I used to eat my dinner at 9 or 10pm at night so I changed it to 6pm to 7pm the latest.
Earlier I used to skip breakfast so I decided to eat breakfast as well as lunch no skipping meal.
Earlier I used to stay up late past midnight so I decided to go to bed by 11pm latest.

Above all I decided to workout 2hrs/4days a week.Which involved intense cardio training as well as intense weight and strength training.Oh,I didn't join any weight loss/diet program or did not hire any personal trainer for this goal.

Goal achieved:

After changing my daily routine and with little exercise in 5 months I have lost 18 lbs.My starting weight was 180lbs and my current weight is 162lbs and now my belly is gone I see my abs definitions.Above all I get lots of attention from some of the pretty girls at gym :) . Ofcourse I'm joking when I'm talking about girls which sounds little lame but you can choose anything for your motivation whether it is attention from girls or looking good or performing better at sports.
I am self motivated person I just have this rage to challenge myself everyday at gym with weights and new exercises.There was time when I couldn't do more than 10 push ups with both hands and now I can do 10 push ups with one hand.This is how I keep myself motivated and everyday it gives me a sense of accomplishment.
My target weight range is 155 lbs to 158lbs and I would like to stay in that range.

I think it's enough for now.If you guys like it then I will post my workout routine in next blog.Until then good bye and enjoy your weight loss.