Thanks to the awesomeness of the interwebs, that we have managed to get hold of this amazing piece of sheer genius in motion. First of all, have a look at the image itself.

I call it – Trigonometry in Motion. [ Courtesy: Reddit ]

The idea here is that in the circle, if you look at the special angles i.e. 0, 30, 45, 60, 90 degrees etc. for the first positive quadrant, all these angles are some combination of 1/2 , sqrt (3)/2 and sqrt(2)/2. And these keep oscillating amongst the special angles.

Or the easy way to remember this back in the days was SOH-CAH-TOA. As in, Sin = Opposite / Hypotenuse, Cos = Angle / Hypotenuse, Tan = Opposite / Anlge.

And now let’s go for a geek nitro booster after the jump.

I call it – Harmonic motion Hyper-drive. [ Courtesy: Reddit.com]

The circular 2d figure on the bottom is Uniform Circular Motion, and the top figure is its projection into 1d space (otherwise known as Simple Harmonic Motion aka SHM). This is a great application calculus and trigonometry – note that the derivative of a sine wave is another sine wave (with the same frequency but a different phase and amplitude).

Deep stuff! Go get some beer for me now!

This post should not be considered as just a mere rant. This actually works for job interviews and in my experience of the few that I have attended, it has certainly got the positive attention of the recruiter. So, how does it work? By definition, blogging can be at different levels – personal – which is focussed on personal likes/dislikes etc and hence, is already driven by some niche. The other end of blogging is – professional blogging – which is primarily done by people who earn their bread and butter by means of blogging. Such are writers who majorly write about specific areas – such as  Technology, Blogging, Making Money Online, Entertainment, Television, Pop culture etc. They are the next generation of press reporting, and arguably pose a threat to the traditional news reporting. Such is the impact that News reporters and the likes have resorted to Blogging online. So, coming back to the question is how does Blogging add value to one’s resume?

Let’s deal the sections separately. First up – personal blogging.

Personal blogging is about finding individuality and one’s own personal interests and chronicling them. It can be a mere note about a day’s random event or a personal comment on a political event. A recruiter is interested in the specific skillset that a candidate brings to the table. But in addition to that, recruiters are also interested to see the all-round personality of a candidate. Blogging as a hobby infers a person’s ease at expressing oneself, command over language and written communication skills. If he/she is a podcaster or a vlogger, the communication skill goes beyond just the writing board. A keen interest over a particular topic also reflects personality and knowledge. These are indeed plus points which go in favour of the candidate.

Next up - Professional Blogging.

Pro-Bloggers, as we like to call ‘em, are often well connected in their niche networks via social network groups and hence, know more of their business closely. For e.g. tech bloggers participate in various events, expos and discussions online and offline to interact with their peers and seniors. Also, they market and advertise their own small venture and have a crystal clear view of their business model.

The question is: Where and why would a Pro-Blogger go for a job?

Most pro-bloggers, because of the fact that they earn their living via blogging, are offered jobs in publications or their online versions because of their body of work and also because of their contacts, and the audience that the blogging medium targets which traditional media cannot.

I hope this post has been helpful and has inspired you to churn out some good posts, and in case you still do not have a blog, seriously, go start one. Let us know when you do.

Cheerio!

Image courtesy: JustinBess

This is my first Tablet. I am still convincing myself that it was worth spending 90 quid over it. I know it is not a good sign to be struggling right at the beginning of buying a product. I mean, you’re supposed to love and adore your newly bought stuff. But I am already having second thoughts; not because it is a bad product, but because I am questioning my own ability to use it to the fullest extent. But what the heck! I have it, and I will keep on trying until I churn out my Monalisa. Here’s my first attempt (an Anime girl sketch nonetheless !)

But just because it is so cool to unbox your new gadgets, (blogs like Gizmodo and Engadget have done zillions of such posts), I decided to do the same when my box arrived last evening. So just enjoy the pics below.

The Box is so bigger than the actual Tablet.

*****More pics after the Jump*****

Lotsa Air Bags. Just in case it needed water landing.

There it is! My Trust Tablet TB-7300

Got a bit carried away. Damn Meerkats. So funny!

I know, lotsa booze. No one’s paying any attention now.

It is indeed widescreen.

Covered in Plastic…It’s fantastic!

Final level of unboxing.

Unboxing done.!!

Front-View -ish!

Sexy side-view!!

The digital pen..is mightier than the …whatever!!

Choosing the Right WordPress Theme

I hope you people might have noticed that I have two blogs, one is this- Techkeyla, and the other one is OneKnightStands or as most of my mates call it- OKS. It was launched alongside Techkeyla, last year when I joined the independently blogging band-wagon and left the Blogger camp. Things have been great since. Visitors multiplied, my posts got linked and I got readers from all across the world. But unfortunately I haven’t been able to write as much. So to break the hibernation, I thought of redesigning the theme. I was happy with the previous theme for it supporting my long posts and clarity of font. But I needed change. After all it was a year old. So I began my hunt for the perfect wordpress theme to work on.

Sources of Free WordPress Themes.

My search began with a google search, but it was just not quite adequate. So, the search led me to multiple other blogs and other sources which I am sharing with you.

1. Smashing Magazine

Just love this blog and the exhaustive amount of sources these guys have. Check the following posts e.g.

100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes

83 Beautiful WordPress Themes You (Probably) Haven’t Seen

2.The next huge resource for anything wordpress is Mashable. For themes, I seeked help from the following posts.

30+ WordPress 3-Column Themes

30+ WordPress 2-Column Themes

And then there are numerous other blogs providing lists of numerous WordPress Themes. Some of them are listed below (after the jump).

49 Most Downloaded WordPress Themes Of All Time

45+ Free Premium WordPress Themes with Magazine or Grid Layouts

45+ Must See WordPress themes

20 Free Corporate WordPress Themes

50 Beautiful Free WordPress Themes

21 Mindblowing Premium-Like Free WordPress Themes

92 Unique WordPress Themes

24 High Quality Free WordPress Themes

Top 50 free WordPress themes

50 Beautiful Free WordPress Themes

15 High Quality Premium-Like Free WordPress Themes

That’s more or less like 700 plus WordPress themes at your disposal. Not necessarily, you often find some repetitions. But even after that, that’s a lot of Themes. And if you are still hungry, eat this.

413 BEST FREE WORDPRESS THEMES OF 2008

So the total now has reached 1113 plus. All of them are free and for yours to download. And now the task begins of choosing the right one for you. The criteria for selection of a particular theme may be manifold, but I tried considering the following factors.

a: Background Colour : Dark vs. White :- This is a never ending debate, but for me White is the colour. Because the blog is one with long posts and one which should be soothing to the eyes, so have tried avoiding bright colours.

b: 2 columns vs. 3 colums vs. 4 colums :- 3 colums always for me as it gives me more space to have my widgets and other contents.Also, my 3 column theme is one which has a left and right sidebar with text in the middle. This gives the blog a more arranged look and are proved to be more Adsense friendly.

c: Text Space: This matters a lot as the blog has a lot of text and also images which it should accommodate.

d: Magazine vs. Grid : Magazine layouts are good, but they shorten up the texts in the homepage, which is not acceptable. Grids are good.

e: Flexible Width vs. Fixed Width : My previous theme was a flexible width, but I chose to have a fixed width this time. There are various advantages for fixed width like uniform layout for all screensizes, which means header images will always remain symmetric, any change in side widget images, or posts text would not affect theme lay-out, which is a problem with flexible width.

f. Lastly, your will to incorporate change. If you find interesting design and portions in different themes, you can always mix and match, provided you credit the source.

Of all the wordpress themes I previewed and tested the demos, I tried quite a few of them which I will mention in the next post. I finally opted for Velocity theme (Source: BlogOhBlog) designed by Jai Nischal Verma. I have done quite a bit of tweaking on the theme and shall talk about that in part -II and also let you know of the continuous changes that I plan to make on the blog theme of Techkeyla as well OKS.

See you in Part -II. Cheers!!!

Right! I have been on quite a long hiatus now. Almost two months. The last post was on July 30th. Both my blogs, this one and OKS have been quite dead. Not that many people have been asking me why, but I do feel the need to explain why. Well, simple and plain, I have been busy. And not simple, plain busy. It has been a helluva hectic ass-pounding 2 months for me. And to top that, I have been dwelling in an offline world. You ask me, how’s that possible. It is, indeed. Yeah, the occasional online sessions at a cybercafe don’t count, do they?

How do you expect me to get hold of everything in the techno-blogosphere and elsewhere from a cubicle, with no-AC, a shitty keyboard which makes me hit the keys like I was Lars Ulrich, a Monitor which has its own idea of colors, a USB port which wouldn’t recognise mine, and at the end of it all , charge me Rs.35 for an hour. Bitches! All I could do was check my mail, mail back the important ones, and by that time (yes, I indeed didn’t mention the disconnections and the snail speed), the hour bell has rung.

And why was I exactly in such a place. Coz I was preparing for my education loan, back at home. And as they say, ” All’s well that ends well”. The ending was certainly happy and it marked the beginning of a new era. Here I am, in England, Southampton. I am studying M.Sc in Management Sciences in University of Southampton, and I am loving it here. Hope to write more posts soon.

Ciao!

 _____ U _____ u   ____  _   _     _  __  U _____ u __   __  _        _
 |_ " _|\| ___"|/U /"___||'| |'|   |"|/ /  \| ___"|/ \ \ / / |"|   U  /"\  u
   | |   |  _|"  \| | u /| |_| |\  | ' /    |  _|"    \ V /U | | u  \/ _ \/
  /| |\  | |___   | |/__U|  _  |uU/| . \\u  | |___   U_|"|_u\| |/__ / ___ \
 u |_|U  |_____|   \____||_| |_|   |_|\_\   |_____|    |_|   |_____|_/   \_\
 _// \\_ <<   >>  _// \\ //   \\ ,-,>> \\,-.<<   >>.-,//|(_  //  \\ \\    >>
(__) (__)__) (__)(__)(__)_") ("_) \.)   (_/(__) (__)\_) (__)(_")("_)__)  (__)

There you go, we have done it!!!

The unformatted version is:

 _____ U _____ u   ____  _   _     _  __  U _____ u __   __  _        _
 |_ " _|\| ___"|/U /"___||'| |'|   |"|/ /  \| ___"|/ \ \ / / |"|   U  /"\  u
   | |   |  _|"  \| | u /| |_| |\  | ' /    |  _|"    \ V /U | | u  \/ _ \/
  /| |\  | |___   | |/__U|  _  |uU/| . \\u  | |___   U_|"|_u\| |/__ / ___ \
 u |_|U  |_____|   \____||_| |_|   |_|\_\   |_____|    |_|   |_____|_/   \_\
 _// \\_ <<   >>  _// \\ //   \\ ,-,>> \\,-.<<   >>.-,//|(_  //  \\ \\    >>
(__) (__)__) (__)(__)(__)_") ("_) \.)   (_/(__) (__)\_) (__)(_")("_)__)  (__)

READ BETWEEN THE LINES MATE!! HEHE..

It seems like a moment of triumph. Seems like what started as a silly hobby, and having fought many obstructions and other temptations and having not given up after almost 3 years of blogging, has finally paid off. I got my first interview published on an e-mag called Pakspectator.

It is an online magazine encompassing different topics and they feature interviews of writers, passionate bloggers, webmasters et al. I believe that I belong to the second kind. They contacted me and I couldn’t help say anything but yes. Very soon, they replied me with a long list of questionnaire which included questions on my blogging experience etc.

An excerpt:-

Is there anyone from your past that once told you you couldn’t write?

Oh yes many, including my English teacher back at school. I never gave standard answers which were marks friendly.

If you could pick a travel destination, anywhere in the world, with no worries about how it’s paid for – what would your top 3 choices be?

New York- Big Apple

Cupertino – Home of Apple

Tokyo – Home of Jap-Anime

How bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?

There are ways to generate income through blogs. Though I do not blog professionally, and haven’t made a reasonable income from my blogs, there are bloggers who make their entire living from it, and even make a killing. I am still searching for the answer to this question myself.

Is it true that who has a successful blog has an awful lot of time on their hands?

It might be true, and might not be as well. I blog whenever I can. It does not come across as a hindrance to my work (may be the other way around is true). But I do know of people who have very tight schedules but also regularly maintain their blogs which are successful as well.

Leaving aside the bandwagon of celebs (read Bollywood celebs) who cash in on their celeb status to catapult their online presence, there are in fact people with demanding careers who also blog and do a commendable job at it too.

You can read the full interview here. I feel so elated and a bit like a snob as well. Good going Sujoy!!!

Cheers!!

It has been a good 6 months since the launch of Techkeyla. And well, I was very happy with the O2-20 Theme that I had for this one. But it has been here since day one. And well, the itch for a change in the theme had been troubling me for quite some time. It actually began when I saw the Underscore theme of Upstart Blogger. I loved the simplicity of the Theme, the Underscore in the Title, and the clean white background. But then, I had issues with its Post Width and its sidebar size. And then, I saw Chris Pearson’s Cutline 1.3 -3 Column Split. Instantly liked the whole simple layout, white blackground and well, the rotating header image. The theme is widget ready.But needed some changes to be done. The original theme can be downloaded here. ( Download Link ) And well, did the following changes.

Edited the Header Images. Created a few customised ones with GIMP. Front Page: Kept the theme of my previous Techkeyla intact for the Front Page header. It shows the 3 pillars of what TECHNOLOGY is today. Apple – Google -Microsoft. Moving on to the Single Post page, I included the gadgets that rule the web space today. From the iPhone to the 360, PS3, Wii, Guitar Hero et al. Now if you were to browse through a category, archive or a tag page,  the header would then show a mix and mash of images ranging from the Safari Browser to Mac OS X Leopard, to Ubuntu, Firefox, Opera Browser and well, the Android (I couldn’t find the picture of the logo) and finally the GIMP logo (through which I made all the images).

Changed the 404 page. Check it out by going to

http://techkeyla.com/<anything gibberish>.

You are in for a nice drink on the house. . Made some more changes with addition of Adsense, the MyBlogLog widget, and now I have a few more things to figure out. Firstly, the archive page as I have had a lot of articles by now (not many by the normal blogger standard) and well I am yet to figure out what’s the deal with Sitemap. Have to include the RSS (although I believe there are still not enuff people who subscribe to my site, but then the RSS icon is a mandatory thing these days). Apart from that I am pretty much ready with the version 2.0 of Techkeyla.

Tell me if you like it. Next post: Things to consider while choosing a theme and how you make it suit your needs. And there are a lot of sites which can actually help you with a lot of resources. From widgets, plugins, themes and simple code changes which can make your blog go from being a normal plain jane to a Marilyn Monroe (not Manson). Shall include the links, till then, lets drink to the new Techkeyla. CHEERS!!