This Year’s Biggest College Event, right at Rajagiri School of Engineering and Technology, Kakkanad, in partnership with NOKIA, presents Techkshetra. Be prepared to be blown away!

Good news for students, an event you don’t want to miss. Hosted at one of the best colleges in Kerala. An event for the best of the best. March 12th 2010 will have a new meaning to students all over Kerala.

From events galore and not just the tech-related stuff, fun and random events, online games and many more. Presentations, Seminars and Project presentations, there is just about everything to keep you on your toes. With exciting and surprise events poised to be held any moment, you just can’t keep away from anything. Gifts, vouchers, cash prizes, fun and everything great that makes a Tech-Fest awesome!

From tech events like C Decoding(hash_include), Electronic Junkyard, etc and non-tech like gaming, Best manager contest(the one), you have so much to choose from. Challenge yourself and let the adrenaline rush through you.

And to top it off, expect NOKIA to come up with some exciting stuff. Surprise Surprise…So hang onto to the edge of your seats or well your pants or anything you can get your hands on. If Tech Fests could get fun and exciting this is as fun as they can get.

Like they say, be there or be square!

click on for more info

The BSNL has launched a new project titled ‘Project Udaan’ that enables the customers to apply for a new broadband or land-line connection just by sending an SMS or by making a phone call to the BSNL call centre.

A statement from the BSNL on Tuesday said that the new service would be available only to customers in Ernakulam district in the initial phase and would be extended to other districts in a phased manner.

How to avail the offer : The service can be availed of by sending SMS ‘BB landline number with STD code’ to 9446344000 or send message ‘LL/BB/BSNL’ to phone number 54141 or call BSNL call centre at 1550. An executive of the BSNL will reach the customer’s door step with out much delay, the statement said.

Volkswagen rolled out with its famous Beetle in Cochin on Thursday. It is one of its most famous models that has ever rolled out of a Volkswagen factory. The Beetle is an Iconic car that has been in the Volkswagen stable for ages.
The New Beetle sports a powerful 2.0L I4 petrol engine that generates 115Bhp. The engine is set out with a 6-speed automatic transmission and will give you an average of 13.5 km/l and also complies with the stringent Euro IV emission norms. It will come in as a two door four seat hatch and will be imported from Volkswagen Mexico factory. Advanced occupant safety is one of the key features of the New Beetle which comes equipped with 4 airbags, Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Stabilization Programme (ESP) and engine immobilizers. It is equipped with a 6 CD changer, power steering for better drivability, body coloured exterior mirror housings, tailgate handle and heat insulating tinted glass. The large 15” alloy wheels, ensconced in their flared arches, give it a higher and more commanding stance.The lights, refined lines, fresh color palette and new fabric seat covers are few details that are additions to the new Beetle. The Beetle is bound to set you back by around 23-25 Lakhs so get ready to break those piggy banks!

Power lines, dangling service wires and rusting fixtures of electric posts would no more be eyesores along 200 kms of roads in the city, in a few months’ time. By then, 90 per cent of the 11-kV overhead power lines along a total of 200 km in the city would be replaced by underground cables, under the Kerala State Electricity Board’s Kochi City Automation Scheme.

Appeal to public : Board officials have requested members of the public to bear with them when 200 kms of roads would be dug up for cable-laying. The agency will resurface and restore the roads within a fortnight of work on each stretch getting over. The cabling work began two months ago and is progressing at the rate of 1 km per day. Ircon, the firm that is executing the work for the KSEB, has been asked to speed up the work to complete the cabling works and installing switches, so that the automation project can be commissioned soon.

There is no connection however between the cabling work and frequent power shutdowns currently encountered by people in different parts of the city.The cabling done under the Rs. 79.40 crore project would considerably reduce power supply interruptions and transmission loss. Even if there is disruption in supply, the faulty area can be isolated and repaired using advanced equipments. Power supply to the rest of the places in the locality would be restored within seconds,” the engineer said.

Foundation work:The construction of foundations to install 132 of the 232  Ring Main Units is already over.Aimed at preventing damage to cables and  water pipelines, the trenches are being dug manually.RCC cover slabs would  be laid above the armoured cables, to prevent damage due to different types  of pressure acting on the road.Twelve sets of workers engaged by six  contractors are simultaneously doing the cabling works, including in West  Kochi. The project will cover most main roads under the limits of the  Corporation of Kochi. The cabling works along SA Road and Banerjee Road  would be completed before the roads are fully resurfaced.

Transformers:The board also has a plan to relocate transformers that are  currently blocking free movement of pedestrians and motorists. A proposal  from Ircon is awaited. The power transmission from 13 sub-stations too  would be improved under the scheme.

So , Kochi-ites , that is reason enough for us to be happy I guess. Underground power lines ?? Thats cool..!

The Internet Bus Project is an attempt to educate people about what the Internet is, and how it may be beneficial to their lives, by taking the Internet experience to them through a customised Internet-enabled bus, which will travel to several towns and cities across India.

Having travelled more than 10000 km acrsoo four states of India over the past 10 months, the Google Internet Bus started its Kerala campaign from Kochi on Wednesday.The Internet Bus — a customdesigned bus aimed to provide an online experience to the people of Kerala — will be travelling through eight towns (Kochi, Alappuzha, Kollam, Trivandrum, Thrissur, Palakkad, Kozhikode and Thalassery) in the next 25 days.

Schedule

05 Dec Kochi

10 Dec Allapuzha

12 Dec Kollam

14 Dec Trivandrum

19 Dec Thrissur

21 Dec Pallakad

23 Dec Kozhikode

26 Dec Thalassery

With a focus on four themes — information, communication, entertainment and education — the bus will showcase informative content in both English and Malayalam to give people an understanding of how the Internet can be used for all these needs.

In addition to basic familiarisation on using services like search, email, social networking and online maps, the bus will demonstrate how the Internet services can be used by mobile phone users to make there everyday life simple.

In Kerala, Google has joined hands with the NIIT, which will give a free hour of hands-on Internet training to visitors of the Internet Bus.This is meant to sustain the interest among users about the Internet and to raise the engagement levels of the people.The Internet Bus which started its journey from Tamil Nadu in February has so far covered Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

As a part of the Urban Transport System under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) a fleet of luxury hi-tech lowfloor buses will be introduced in Kochi. These buses are for routes that aim to help people commute between places like the International Airport, Infopark, Fort Kochi tourism zone, etc.

Kochi was alloted 200 buses while Thiruvananthapuram was given 150. Surprisingly Thiruvananthapuram has already started plying some of the first set of buses allotted to them as the Thiruvananthapuram corporation had already fixed a route map consulting the KSRTC. Kochi seems to be sadly behind them as The Cochin Corporation hasn’t even made any headway in making a decent plan for deploying the buses for our City.
The plan was to initially roll out eight buses in Thiruvananthapuram and seven buses in Kochi. The Mayor is reported to have said that the Corporation would hold further discussions with the KSRTC, but she was not sure when. This means that the funds allotted for this project will remain virtually ‘useless’ for the meantime.

If the civic body had taken up a more better approach and concentrated of the potential outcomes by introducing these buses Kochi would already would have had them by now. These buses would have greatly reduced a great number of people’s dependencies on 2-wheeler’s and 4-wheeler’s, on routes where they would travel. Traffic, pollution, ease of travel, these all would have had been enough factors for a faster response from our authorities.

Sadly Kochi will have to wait for these buses a little longer.

In 2006 Windows came out with the release of the lumbering OS called Vista. Any computer User would readily agree that Vista is one irritating OS and it just takes everything out of you. Now recently Microsoft came out with Windows 7, now most Techies would require an in-depth review of the whole OS. But to the average Computer user, all they have to know is that it is better than Vista. So we have the best of both worlds to offer, for a more detailed review click on the link or if you are just too lazy just read the quotes from each website.

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ILUG (Indian Libre User Group ) Cochin has successfully completed 12 years in August 2009.  They plan to celebrate it in a quite an awesome way..

The following events have been planned

Free Software Awareness Campaign on the Street

Date            :   26/09/2009, Saturday
Time           :   4.30pm – 7.30pm.
Venue        :   Marine Drive, Ernakulam
Activities :   Assembling in Busy areas on Marine Drive and Menaka and Jetty with placards and Body posters.
- Distributing Pamphlets and Brochures about Free Software and ILUG Cochin.

ILUG Cochin Regular Meeting, 13th year special.

Date        : 27/09/2009, Sunday
Time       : 9.00pm – 5.30pm.

Venue   : Jay’s Internet Club ,  IInd Floor, AMI Trust Bldg, Broadway Enclave,  Broadway

( i.e. Behind Allappat Super Shoppe,On top of SBT Treasury wing)

Schedule:

9.00    :  Welcome
9.20    :  Free Software and the Future
9.50    :  ILUG Cochin and its activities
10.10 :  Tea
10.20  : Technical presentations
11.45  : Troubleshooting Free Software Issues ( strategy and dealing with
common problems )
12.30  : Lunch
1.30   : Technical Presentations
2.30   : Charting ILUG Cochin 13th year activities and plans
3.30   : 13th year celebration – Cake cutting, group Photo, Tea
4.15   : Technical Presentations
5.15   : Conclusion

Technical Presentations:
- Introduction to the Command Line
- Python Programming Primer
- Free Software for Web Development
- Magic of Inkscape, a vector graphics based drawing tool
- Free Software Content Management Systems
- Malayalam Computing in GNU/Linux

Presentations will be scheduled as per time, availability, convenience of speakers.

Following will be conducted throughout the day

9.00 – 17.00
Install Booth:
Bring your machines and install your Free Software Distribution
of Choice.

Free Software Clinic:
Bring your machines with configuration or hardware
compatibility issues, we can try to help.

Career@Free Software:
Counseling and tips for a bright career with Free Software.

Free Software Applications for All !!
- We can help you with the various Free Software applications available, and also looking for the alternatives.

Contact:

Sreenadh    : 9747173432
Sameer      : 9995717112
Hari        : 9495927003
Manu        : 9447372554
Venkat      : 9895191363
Kevin       : 9474311544
Jay jacob   : 9447111771
Sanal Kumar : 9496449969

0484 2374862    ( Venue )
0484 4025077    ( Venue )

Somewhere Else is the newest hang-out in Kochi. The really cool name conjures up so many alternative meanings that its impossible to box  the place as just a cafe. “Lets meet up Somewhere Else”, “Lets hang-out Somewhere Else”…..the name extensions are endless and fun too! Somewhere Else aims to be just that….an alternative place to alternative places. The name immediately captures our imagination as we all want to be somewhere else all the time. The chic interiors, coupled with unique branding makes Somewhere Else the ubercool place to be. Somewhere Else celebrates good food by bringing together some house specialities inspired by culinary delights from around the world….be it Italian salads and pasta or a West-African chicken dish. Coffee has two vitues – as the Dutch see it – it is wet and it is warm! We agree with that….Somewhere Else serves wonderful coffee perfectly warm on a wet monsoon day.

Somewhere Else opened its doors on 15th of May and since then they have already brought in some innovative additions. For example, you can now, for the first time in Kochi, enjoy a full English Breakfast (a full Monty as they call it in England) complete with fresh juice, baked beans, eggs to order, toast, chicken sausages, mashed potatoes, sauted mushrooms, a slice of tomato and hashbrowns and coffee all for Rs. 150/- only. And moreover, the breakfast is available throughout the day…hence called the “all-day breakfast”. They also have a Set Lunch option which is a 3-course lunch with main dishes from around the world and again going for a value price of Rs.150/-. And as if all these were not reasons enough to be Somewhere Else, they also offer free wi-fi and games like Uno, chess and scrabble to keep you entertained when you are with friends and family (em…that is if you are not in the mood to sip some awesome coffee perched up on one of their high-chairs and looking down at Kochi going by Cheruparambath Road and Sahodaran Ayappan Road.). Whether you want to take a walk down the memory lane, contemplate the present, or anticipate your future, Somewhere Else is a cool place to do it….it sort of encourages you to do it.

Location: Its at Cherumparambath Road. Thats at the left turn after Chinese Garden, Kadavanthra (on your way to vytilla). The building on the left before the optical store, Pixetra.

Map Of Somewhere Else: (Not Accurate)
View Somewhere Else cafe in a larger map