Cars seem to be the most disconnected from computers and I always had the urge to connect my laptop to my car to see what it is doing and also to see if  I could get any meaningful information out of it.Starting from 1996 in all cars there is a mandatory port called the OBD-II which allows you to read the code generated by your car.
There are two ways to communicate via this port

1. Via a handheld scanner which can only spit out the codes.
2. Connecting via a USB cable to a computer and then analysing the data.

If you are looking for option 1> then there is a hot deal currently going on @ http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/895940/ , you can get this scanner and clearer for $23.90.Keep in mind the latest new model cars cannot use this because they need a newer technology called CAN reader.

I have chosen to go with option 2> and have bought a USB cable interface from ebay , you can search for "CAN-BUS OBD OBDII Code Scanner Reader  USB" and there are many available in $20-30 range including shipping.This reader is CAN compliant and will work with the latest car models  also.

The next time when  you get an "Engine Check" light on , on your car you don't have to fork out about $65 per engine check at your car maintenance shop.I'm amazed by how much they rip us off for such a trivial task which can be done by us.

posted at: 18:21 | category: /general | permanent link to this entry

This is great news .I personally feel that each and every state should have this law and each and every car should have this device.
I'm surprised that in the list of states for this law California does not have such a law.
Read more about it @ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090102/ap_on_re_us/dui_legislation_ignition_locks

posted at: 01:13 | category: /general | permanent link to this entry

Recently I needed to rip an audio CD which we had bought.Till now I had been using the lossy format Ogg for ripping CD's but I have now started using the FLAC lossless format for audio for ripping CD's.
I used the free/open source Encoder @ http://www.bonkenc.org/

posted at: 19:53 | category: /general | permanent link to this entry

Now that we are in the downward spiral of recession , there is a website which tracks layoffs.
http://news.cnet.com/tech-layoffs/

posted at: 03:33 | category: /general | permanent link to this entry

Have you ever felt the need for more openness about your company and being able to comment on your compay,companies culture , or share your grievances of your company or say that your company at good at various things.
Do you want to rate your CEO ?
Wanna know what others make in your company.
If the answer to any of the above is yes then there is a website which might interest you.
It is appropriately named as http://www.glassdoor.com

posted at: 14:44 | category: /general | permanent link to this entry

We all want to avoid being spammed but at the same time we want to reveal our email address to people who need to contact us.recaptch solves that problem very easily and just by adding about 4 lines of code you can hide your email address from spammers and reveal it.
Another cool benefit of recaptcha is that you are helping "reading" books that is when some books have faded and are being scanned , you are helping solve the faded text.Read more about it on their website.

posted at: 00:41 | category: /general | permanent link to this entry

I have finally said good-byes to my phone landline and have moved to exclusively to mobile phone .
I hated paying almost $20 for a landline with no features and just local calling.
I have moved to Virgin Mobile as my preferred mobile carrier(have been using them for almost 2-3 yrs) because it is the most flexible service that is it allows you to switch between a pay-as you go model to a monthly service anytime without **any** annual contracts etc.You can also switch plans like say for example in the next month you anticipate that you will need a phone more then usual , then you can increase the monthly amount, and then say the month after next you are going out of country and wont be using the phone at all you can , reduce your monthly charges.
It seems that the mobile phone industry pretty much has a price war going on right now and I would not like to lock myself into a contract when I could have more choices in near future.In general I just don't like contracts, I prefer freedom for consumers which seems to be hard to get these days especially with the telecom industry.
Here is a nice site that provides a good comparison of pre-paid wireless plans/carriers.
Time to time there are good deals on Target or at Calling Mart where you can get Virgin Mobile Top-Up cards at a significant discount , sometimes upto 10%.

posted at: 20:36 | category: /general | permanent link to this entry

Thank you Gov.Schwarzenegger for signing this, the only thing is wish it had been signed a couple of years back .Everybit helps as we have seen time and again that Cell phone drivers get too much distracted while driving and can cause accidents. You can read more about this law at Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Bill Requiring Drivers to Use Hands Free Devices While Talking on a Mobile Phone

posted at: 20:17 | category: /general | permanent link to this entry

A couple of months back I ran into this very good utility called Truecrypt. It is a free open source software(GPL license) which creates a filesystem in a file and it is encrypted.
One of the cool things about this is how seamlessly it integrates with Windows/Linux.
It shows up as a drive in Windows Explorer just like a USB drive.And it mounts like regular mountpoints on Linux.
Another benefit of having all your files in one file is that you really don't need to worrying about forgetting to backup individual files.All you have to backup is one file which has all your folders/files etc.
To me This is a huge benefit as I have looked into multiple backup tools/machine imaging utilities etc but by far truecrypt is the best.
Another advantage of truecryt based filesystem is that it is ultra-portable. You just copy one file onto any machine and you have your filesystem there
. No need to use partition magic or other tools to backup the pastition and then restore it on another machine.
Combine this with Portable Apps and you can have your working desktop/environment on any machine and best of it all , it is encrypted !!!!
Oh, the other thing you don't have to pay inflated prices for USB drives for encryption.You buy **any** USB drive and put your encrypted files on the USB drive and you can derive similar protection.

posted at: 16:39 | category: /general | permanent link to this entry