My Graduation

Well , I don't wanna boast about my newest & so to say the biggest achievement of life so far, but I'm so glad I made it. I waited 4 straight years to earn this right and I doubt even god knows how much effort I put into it. Gosh… I never thought I’d have to kill myself for the Curtin degree like I did. SLIIT degree program was pretty easy going, apart from the final year research project. Anyway, I had a much needed break of couple of months after a 10 month marathon run this year. The convocation for SLIIT is due to be held on 21st Feb next year where as the Curtin one too could well be on the same day though it’s not been confirmed yet. I’m in the mood of doing an Msc. also, but I’ve got a lot to do before that. Now, don’t bother asking what they are …(hihi lolz…………)

I'm on Facebook..................

From what I have experienced so far, I believe Facebook is a better social networking website than hi5. It's kind of complecated to start with, but once you settle in, it's so much fun. It offers a varaity of applications to tell the world who you really are..

visit me on Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=729407971

I couldn't figure out a way to get direct access to Facebook profiles like in hi5. So the logic is simple. Members only.... Infact it should be friends only in my case (i.e. you have to be my friend to access my profile.) So send in a friendship request first & it'll be all fun afterwards.

Achieving Interoperability between VB.NET & MATLAB

‘MATLAB’…. Might sound bit strange to most of you, but its logic is no strange to any other popular programming language. MATLAB is somewhat a high level language written in Java & widely used to write scientific applications. Me & my team used this interesting language to develop an iris based human recognition system for our final year research project of SLIIT.
Halfway through we faced a number of issues when using MATLAB at the frontend due to its lack of support for GUI. So we opted to use VB.NET at the frontend & use MATLAB to develop the backend application. Each module was implemented as a function and called by the VB app. as follows. I believe this is the easiest method to build a GUI based MATLAB system as VB is extremely high level & doesn’t even refer to a single additional namespace to call functions implemented at the backend.

Dim MatLab As Object
MatLab = CreateObject("Matlab.Application") // the MATLAB object
result = MatLab.Execute("cd 'C:\ISSS NN'") // path where file is located
result = MatLab.Execute("match") //execute the file

Curtains rise on the final release of VS 2008

Microsoft released the long awaited VS2008 Final set of editions last Monday(19th) and is up for grabs for the MSDN subscribers. Framework 3.5 was also released simultaneously with VS2008.
As I calculated, it would probably take 17 to 18 hours to download the 3.9 GB image file with my DSL connection. But decided against it as I’m continuously running a couple of Java Projects these days which I think need a hard disk size RAM to run smoothly.
Since it’s a 90-day trail edition, the indecision is whether to go for it or use express editions & try out the new technologies until the professional edition is released. I can hardly wait to explore LINQ with C# 3.0 .
Anyway, one way or the other I’m gonna say goodbye to NetBeans soon and get on with the new VS.

The power of LINQ

LINQ has become bit of a buzz word among C# & VB.NET developers around the world with the pre-release of VS2008. So I too couldn't resist going after it to figure out how it's going to revolutionize C# 3.0 & VB 9.

LINQ stands for Language Integrated QUery and fundamentally is about integrating query operations into the .NET platform in a comprehensive and open manner. It's also about providing a unified way to query across any kind of data, despite of the data sources being relational, objects or XML.

LINQ has three major components:

• LINQ to Objects
• LINQ to ADO.NET, which includes LINQ to DataSet (originally called LINQ over DataSet), LINQ to Entities & LINQ to SQL (originally called DLinq)
• LINQ to XML (originally called XLinq)
  

LINQ to Objects deals with in-memory data. Any class that implements the IEnumerable interface (in the System.Collections.Generic namespace) can be queried with LINQ’s standard query operators (SQO), which are implemented as methods in class Sequence in the System.Query namespace.

LINQ to ADO.NET deals with data from external sources, basically anything ADO.NET can connect to Any class that implements IEnumerable or IQueryable (in the System.Query namespace) can be queried with LINQ’s standard query operators (SQO), which are implemented as methods in class Sequence in the System.Query namespace.

LINQ to XML is a comprehensive API for in-memory XML programming. Like the rest of LINQ, it includes SQO, and it can also be used in concert with LINQ to ADO.NET, but its primary purpose is to unify and simplify the kinds of things that disparate XML tools, like XQuery, XPath, and XSLT, are typically used to do.

Silverlight. Microsoft's newest web technology

Silverlight ( code-named Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere or WPF/E) is a cross-platform, cross-browser web client runtime, designed to bring the Windows Presentation Foundation experience to the Web. Silverlight provides a retained mode graphics system, similar to WPF and integrates multimedia, graphics, animations and interactivity into a single runtime. It is being designed to work in concert with XAML and is scriptable with JavaScript. XAML(Extensible Application Markup Language) can be used for marking up the vector graphics and animations.

Silverlight supports playback of WMV, WMA and MP3 media content across all supported browsers and has no dependencies on other products such as Windows Media Player for video playback or the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 for XAML parsing.
The architecture that supports the Silverlight application is shown below. The main programming interface is the JavaScript DOM API. This allows you to respond to events raised within the Silverlight XAML (such as when content has finished loading or when an animation is complete). You can also call methods to manipulate the presentation (such as starting an animation or pausing video playback). Underneath this is the XAML parsing engine. The parser creates the in-memory XAML DOM for use by the presentation core, which handles the rendering of the graphics and animations defined by the XAML.
Silverlight aims to compete with Adobe Flash and the presentation components of Ajax. It also competes with Sun Microsystems' JavaFX, which was launched a few days after Silverlight.

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I'll be back soon....................

It's like coming home every time I type my blog URL. I've been extremely busy with my seemingly never ending studies since August this year and it’s pretty embarrassing to say that I can’t manage time to peep into my blog every now and then with something new.
Anyway my exams are due to be over by the end of this month & hope to come back with a new look to my blog. Just for a hint, It’ll be more programmer specific, while cutting edge technology will always deserve its spot in this space……

Countdown begins for Visual Studio 2008

Microsoft released VS 2008 Beta2 few days back and it's up for grab @ the Microsoft oficial site. The new VS comes under the theme "Build Next-Generation Applications", intending to give more of Vista look & feel. Since .NET Framework 3.5 has also been released lately (also under Beta2 stage at the moment) , it would most probably be the platform to be shipped with the VS 2008 final release..

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/default.aspx

Harry Potter's Last Adventure...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series was released globally yesterday (21st July) and I just found the list of major characters killed by the author, Rowling in her last HP episode. Good thing is that the trio (Hermione, Harry and Ron) have made it to the end, leaving all the fan doubts behind. Rowling had hinted about some major upsets in her last HP book prior to the release , but has been kind enough not to break hearts of millions world wide.

I gave up my efforts of buying a copy on the first day of release early this time as I could imagine the length of the queue outside Vijitha Yapa book shop @ unity plaza. I was one of the many disappointed who returned empty handed on the day 'Order of the Phoenix' was released.

List of characters killed

Nokia Aeon... Is the iPhone killer coming???

Nokia unveiled its revolutionary concept phone, Aeon, about 9 months back designed to highlight the company's focus on products that allow users to more readily stamp their personality on their gadgets.

Aeon, combines two touch-sensitive panels mounted on a fuel-cell power pack. The handset's connectivity and electronics are built into the panels to allow them to be used independendently. When assembled, one panel would operate as the display, the other as the keypad. Since the buttons are entirely virtual, Aeon can flip instantly between a numeric pad for dialling, a text-entry pad for messaging, or a media-player controller.

One of the mails I got recently said that there's a huge buzz going on, Nokia badly wanting to make this dream phone a reality as soon as posible. If it makes the market somehow it might need a nickname, perhaps the 'iPhone killer'...

For the first time ever, an Indian holds one of the most prestigious titles of WWE

The Great Khali, the 7 ft 3 ,420 lbs gaint from Punjab India won a 20-man Battle Royal to become the new World Heavyweight Champion at a taping of SmackDown in Laredo, Texas. The former World Heavyweight Champion, SmackDown Superstar Edge was forced to surrender his title last Tuesday night due to an injury that will keep him out of action.

Khali will have to put his new title on the line on Sunday 22nd July at the Great American Bash and his opponent will be decided by a No. 1 Contender’s Match which will determine whether it’s Batista, whom Khali had originally agreed to face this Sunday, or Kane, the Big Red Monster who was supposed to meet Edge at the pay-per-view.

I'm all set & ready to rock hi5...

I'm kind of busy these days with my final year SLIIT project and Curtin stuff. So blogging here regularly too has become bit of an issue. Anyway last week I got an invitation from one of my friends to join hi5. About a year back also I got an invitation, but i missed out somehow. This time no messing around, I got registered and built a nice profile with all sorts of css, java scripts and flash animations.

To see, about half of the SLIIT have registered with hi5 way before me and they are rocking. Geee... was I in a nutshell all this time? I could also find many of my classmates who schooled with me . Some of the images they had posted, really brought back memories of those good old days.. Those are the best days of my life by far..

All I can say is hi5 is a wonderful meeting place for guys who'd like to cherish their memories....

visit me @ http://nuwankarunaratne.hi5.com/

Bill Gates is no longer the World's Richest Man

Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu is now the world's richest man, according to a Mexican financial Web site Sentido Commun which has been tracking the telecom mogul's wealth.

The Mexican telecommunications magnate is said to have displaced Microsoft czar Bill Gates from the top spot following a 27% rise in the price of the shares of his company America Movil. This spurt increased Slim's wealth to $67.84 billion. Slim also controls telecom firms Telmex and Telcel.

Bill Gates, who had been the ranked the world's wealthiest man for the last 13 years, is said to be worth $59.2 billion.

Apple releases its new iPhone today

Apple is set to release the much-hyped iPhone with AT&T today. According to manufacturer the new device uses a technology called multi-touch, which allows users to work the interface without a stylus, using finger gestures for enhanced functionality.

Other features include

• Edge transfer technology
• Bluetooth 2.0
• 802.11b/g Wi-Fi.
• A 2 megapixel camera
• Proximity sensor for using the phone near your ear
• Ambient light sensor which adjusts the illumination for use under different lighting conditions
• An Accellerometer which detects and adapts the display based upon the units orientation
• Safari based web browser
• A rich email client, Google Maps Support and Widgets

Wrestler Chris Benoit found dead

In a major blow to the World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE superstar Chris Benoit was found dead on Monday along with his wife and son at their home in Fayetteville, USA. The local police said they are investigating the deaths as a murder-suicide, adding that it could only be confirmed after the evidence is examined by a crime lab.

Investigators believe Benoit (pronounced ben-WAH) killed his wife, 43-year-old Nancy, and son Daniel during the weekend and then himself Monday. The bodies were found Monday afternoon in three separate rooms of the house, off a gravel road about two miles from the Whitewater Country Club.

The WWE canceled its live “Monday Night RAW” card in Corpus Christi, Texas, and USA Network aired a three-hour tribute to Benoit in place of the scheduled wrestling telecast.

Benoit earned his title shot at Vengence for the vacant ECW World Championship, within days after being drafted to ECW from Smakdown and pulled out at the last minute due to 'personal reasons'. His replacement Johnny Nitro, drafted to ECW from RAW, went on to win the championship beating C.M Punk with a swinging neck-breaker.

Bulk mails!! Spammers' best friend

For the last couple of months my gmail address was getting increasingly popular. Geee.. just for a moment I thought somebody had stolen and published my very own poem collection with my mail address . Everyday I checked mails, I had about 10 to 20 mails in the inbox from guys I had never heard of . 90% of them were promoting tit-bits in the internet. The best part of it was that my address was never there in their receiver list. At the first glance, I thought they were unintentional. But it didn't take me too long to put the thinking cap on and realise that I was getting blind carbon copies(bcc). So I picked the spammers' mail addresses and checked them against the bulk mails I got from some of my friends. Yep. I found plenty in forwarded mails.

I took a leaf out of those spammers' book and decided to bcc all my bulk mails thereafter so that no one will have hands on my contact list and asked my pals to do the same. It's pity that my super-star-inbox has been back to normal now that I have blocked most of my spammer fans, but it feels like heaven every day I see my inbox clean.

What could be the 4th subject of this semester of Curtin ?

I went through the courses handbook of Curtin lately to verify the subjects we have in this semester and found bit of a contest for the 4th subject. It's interesting that neither DBMS 362 nor web technology has been added to the list. Wonder what SLIIT course administration will go for this time. Following are the 3 subjects that will be included without a doubt

• Computer Communications 352
• Systems Programming and Design 361
• Software Engineering Tools and Metrics 352

According to the handbook, one of the below will replace last year's DBMS for the 4th subject.

• Machine Perception 362
• Theoretical Foundations of Computer Science 352
• Software Security 303
• Network Systems Design 304

What ever it is, I have a haunting feeling that DBMS 362 might still remain as an option since Dr. Athauda is there at Curtin Bentley Campus as the lecturer in charge of DBMS. Anyway the issue will be addressed in one week's time as soon as the semester begins.

Microsoft fails yet again to fix a famous Notepad bug

I read about this bug in the notepad ( version 5 for XP) about 6 months back at digg.com and thought Microsoft would fix it with the release of Vista. The bug causes notepad to convert the characters to unicode for some letter combinations such as 4-3-3-5 (AAAA BBB CCC EEEEE) upon saving. But it's not been the case as I found the bug is still there under vista also. I fogot to see the notepad version as I checked it on one of my friend's pc and mine is still running with XP. Anyway I hope Microsoft would attend to this issue sooner rather than later.

MaTHaKa is just one presentation away to make SLIIT shine at Imagine cup 2007

I'm extemely happy to hear that SLIIT has finally made it to the top six Sri Lankan contestants of imagine cup 2007. A team called MaTHaka representing SLIIT, will be presenting their application (code named KAMZA ) on stage on 18th June. 3 teams from Faculty of Information Technology - University of Moratuwa, one each from Informatics and UCSC will also be competing for the number 1 spot.

The prime idea of developing KAMZA according to MaTHaka, is to address how organizations can preserve a person’s intellectual gain, in a way which the organization would not be affected even though that the particular person is no longer in service. KAMZA attempts to centralize the knowledge of professionals in service, where even if the person has left the company, “the knowledge” will be stored and reused within the organization itself.

I wish MaTHaka the very best at the final presentation and may you have the stength and courage to rock Korea and bring Imagine cup to Sri Lanka.

What does SLIIT have to do with this video??

I found a video at esnips.com, a file hosting site, uploaded under the name 'Apiit_from SLIIT' by someone called Shashika on March 24 2007. The original video has beeen re-dubbed in Sinhala with the intention of despising APIIT and its activities. What worries me is that the name of this video implies this is some dirty work of SLIIT or someone at SLIIT. As far as I know SLIIT has no real competition with APIIT as SLIIT is the only IT institute in Sri Lanka who can award its own IT degree. Both the institutes are allowed to conduct exams of their affiliated universities and SLIIT never denies the fact that such institutes also maintain a high degree of quality in their courses and materials. I strongly believe as a Sliitian that no student of SLIIT is in a frame of mind to do something cheap like this and publish to bring a black mark to the institute.

click the link below to watch the video and post your comments.

http://www.esnips.com/doc/e5662f45-ed61-450a-9e4f-14613f3ce772/Apiit_from-SLIIT

WWE Chairman Mr. Mcmahon presumed dead

Wow. This is extremely unbelievable that Mr. McMahon is dead due to what is suspected a car bomb blast happened at Mr. McMahon Appreciation Night. Local authorities have stated it is still too early to declare anything as fact, including exactly what caused the explosion, but they have revealed that no body had been recovered from the incinerated wreckage.
I watched the video from the WWE official site and the chairman’s Limo exploded as soon as he stepped into it. I’m damn sure that this incident wasn’t scripted out like most of the other backstage scenes.
Anyway the way he behaved at last week’s Monday Night RAW after losing his ECW World title to Bobby Lashley at One Night Stand, showed he was mentally down and had no idea what he was doing.
For more information visit http://www.wwe.com/

Common ADSL Router Configuration for SLT Broadband

Many people who have got new ADSL connections seem to be having problems configuring their routers/modems. I guess the configurations provided at SLT site are bit outdated. Since I'm bit tired of providing the details to my friends over and over again, thought of adding a post here at last. The genaral parameters are as follows. These may vary slightly depending on the manufacturer.

• You may leave the autentication/operation mode to its default value which is Auto, but in case of a connection error try changing it to G.992.1 (G.DMT).
• Verify the stability of the ADSL Connection by checking the indicator LED on the router. It should be emitting light continuously without blinking.
• You don't have to create a separate connection ( like in dial-up connections),but the router web interface itself has a connect button.
• You can monitor your internet usage at http://www.sltnet.lk/usagemeter.html . This is useful if your package is an entree package.

Kaspersky's reign comes to an end

BitDefender has hit the peak of the Antivirus software rating list this year beating Kaspersky, which was considered to be the most trusted antivirus solution for years. For a complete list of antivirus ratings visit http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com

A risk free software serial/crack generator site

If you are looking for a serial/crack from a 100% virus, adware or spyware free site, I recommand http://www.keygen.ms . I have tried so many cracks/serials downloaded from keygen and they really work. It's got a variaty of serials/cracks so one could often find whatever he/she looks for. The best thing about keygen is that the site gets updated regularly to meet its user needs.

DirectX 10 says goodbye to Windows XP

DirectX 9.0 has been with us since December 2002 and we have seen some good progress made since its inception and it was always on the cards of a new release before too long. DirectX 10, the newest release of DirectX family is only available with Windows Vista and there isn't a version released for Windows XP . The main reason for this is the new driver model designed by Microsoft. Microsoft claims that the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) has been splitted into two key components: User Mode Driver (UMD) and Kernel Mode Driver (KMD) to achieve unprecedented stability and performance.

The new DirectX hasn't been named Windows Graphic Foundation (WGF) as it was planned and remains at the old name, as in DirectX. This new API is said to be composed of new and faster dynamic link libraries (DLLs) for optimised performance.

IBM Unleashes World's Fastest Processor

IBM has unveiled what it claims is the fastest processor in the world. The new Power 6 runs at 4.7GHz, and has an 8MB L2 cache and 790 million transistors built on a 65nm scale. At 4.7 GHz, the dual-core POWER6 processor doubles the speed of the previous generation POWER5 while using nearly the same amount of electricity to run and cool it, according to IBM. The POWER6 chip has a total cache size of 8MB per chip - four times the POWER5 chip - to keep pace with the processor bandwidth.

The POWER6 processor is built using IBM's 65 nanometer process technology. Coming at a time when some experts have predicted an end to Moore's Law, which holds that processor speed doubles every 18 months, IBM presented a host of technical achievements including an improved way the instructions are executed inside the chip. IBM scientists increased chip performance by keeping static the number of pipeline stages - the chunks of operations that must be completed in a single cycle of clock time -- but making each stage faster, removing unnecessary work and doing more in parallel. In addition, the company has separated circuits that can't support low voltage operation onto their own power supply "rails," allowing IBM to reduce power for the rest of the chip. Processor clocks can be also dynamically turned off when there is no useful work to be done and turned back on when there are instructions to be executed, for furhter power saving.

Power saving is also realized when the memory is not fully utilized, as power to parts of the memory not being utilized is dynamically turned off and then turned back on when needed. In cases where an over-temperature condition is detected, the POWER6 chip can reduce the rate of instruction execution to remain within a user-defined temperature envelope.