The Social Geek

Hmmm

2008-08-30T09:38:01Z

"Money can't buy happiness... but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Mercedes than on a bicycle."

Got this SMS from Tariq.

The Prestige

2008-08-25T06:02:47Z

One of the finest movies I've ever seen. Jonathan Nolan and Chris Nolan really have some talent mashaAllah, and they put it to good use.

Lately I've been a bit bee-z (hint) with a few things, will be back to blogosphere when inspiration to blog hits me!

Azaadi Mubarak!

2008-08-14T08:02:46Z

Happy Independence Day - Good things and bad things are always part of everything, but I love my country Pakistan

[ Stop Audio ]

[ Photo Credit ]

Break! Exams and then some

2008-08-11T02:17:29Z

So it's good to have some time off after a good chunk of time put in into lots of things - plus I have the final exams for the semester to look after - so see you after a while!

Fan Built Tumbler Working Replica

2008-08-08T03:49:07Z

Bob Dullam built a full size working replica of The Tumbler from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The whole thing was built from scratch without blueprints, using only photo references found online. The total cost is an estimated $50,000-$70,000. He did the project for fun, and does not plan to sell. “You wouldn’t want to sell this if you had one, believe me,” Bob writes.

Source: SlashFilm

Member of Parliament Marvi Memon has a blog

2008-08-04T14:07:58Z

I came across this. Marvi Memon is one of the brightest young politicians in Pakistan - too bad she supports the dictator - and is in the party of chaudry brothren (PML-Q) - you may then question how I am calling her among the 'brightest' - but still she seems to have a personality that may change things. I've seen her style of talking and I enjoy it - and her background is indeed attractive.

Anyways, this post is not about if i like Marvi or not, it's about she having a blog - which is cool i think, and she asks for the opinions of the readers! I think it would be cool if other members of the parliament can follow suit and have a blog of their own - would prove useful in the end - as the blogosphere in a way connects the members of the parliament to the educated/intellectual lot of the society and as a result we can grow better ;)

Netbeans PHP Integration - I'm impressed

2008-08-04T04:28:13Z

We often keep hearing about some PHP integration at some level or the other in all the major open source IDEs. But frankly, none of them seemed much useful to me. I somehow never liked PDT from Eclipse (and for some reason I don't like Eclipse at all :S). Now the latest milestone release of Netbeans has a cool addition: PHP Integration that really kicks! Just to mention a few highlights: great intellisense for both the builtin library functions as well as our own, full support for class browsing and intellisense for object oriented PHP as well, integrated debugger, live error checking and much much more. Do check out if you are a PHP developer! You might no longer need the expensive Zend studio to have a smooooth PHP development experience.

Below is a screen shot with some of the candies demonstrated, click to enlarge:

Create PDF documents from any printable document easily

2008-08-02T06:37:21Z

CutePDF is a software that lets you convert any printable document into a PDF file - and that too very easily. You simple have to select 'File > Print' and select the CutePDF option.

You can find the details here. I've been using it for a long time now and I really find it useful - it puts no ads, and it keeps the original formatting intact - which is so nice I'd say.

TrueSpace 7.6 now a free download

2008-07-31T20:03:00Z

TrueSpace, one of the popular 3d production systems in the market - is now free. Here is a piece of art produced using TrueSpace:

It used to sell at a price around $600 before Microsoft acquired the parent company Caligari some time back.

TrueSpace, which is now actually a Microsoft product, is available for download at www.caligari.com (free registration required).

Different people have come up with different opinions about this relatively surprising news - to set free a $600 product. But the general opinion is that Microsoft has taken this step to compete with Google's SketchUp - which is also available for free - and allows you to upload content to Google Earth directly.

Here is an excerpt from the official blog posting:

As you'll recall, several months ago we acquired Caligari because of their advanced 3D toolset - trueSpace (among other assets). I've always felt sketchy about other 3D freeware, so starting today trueSpace 7.6 is now available for download.....FOR FREE! And, there is a direct connection into Live Search Maps so you can create SUPER high resolution 3D models using trueSpace, then right from the environment upload the model into Live Search Maps as a collection item. Once you've created your collection, you can import your collection into your Virtual Earth application and BAM you have your own custom 3D models in your Virtual Earth application. We'll host the models right in our 3D collections cloud! This is going to be a long post - get some coffee and make it diesel.

TrueSpace is way ahead in terms of features and power when it comes to comparison with SketchUp - so time will tell how the audience react to this.

I personally use Blender 3D, but choice is always good.

Want some free quality icons eh?

2008-07-29T08:18:10Z

I was traveling through the web and found this. It is a really good collection of free (GPL'ed) icons. I think you must have a look if you are a serious or a hobbyist designer.

Just so refreshing

2008-07-26T20:34:17Z

Part of what I do to seek pleasure is teaching some undergraduate students about the concepts of computer programming. While I try and explain the ideas which are in my mind, and pass them to the young developers out there in front of me, I often feel proud, so proud, that I am able to develop an interest level in them. I feel fascinated by the fact that the student is learning to program not because the student has to, but because the student wants to. That's something very important when you are starting to learn something, and it's always much more fun.

I've seen that the students like to ask questions that may have no logic in your world of things as a teacher - but extracting what they want from their questions and successfully delivering them back is a really rewarding exercise.

And every time I am the teaching assistant of a particular course, I end up finding some students who are really very promising - with great potential within them to lead the rest. I just love the way they approach things - the focus that they have when solving a problem. They're coding as if no one else is watching them, and I love it!

I don't know if it happens just with me, but I've noticed that I can tell by just looking at a person first time how good that person is, in any particular area they may be in. It's the charm of the personality such people have perhaps, that gives me such an impression straight away. Or I'm just lucky at making wild guesses.

It has happened a lot of times with me - that I have a look at a person - or just talk to that person once, and then in my mind I just get a certificate telling me that the person will make it big - will be a distinction or is already a distinction (even if i don't know). And after some time, I get to see that the person who I met has really excelled at all the things I thought s/he would excel at. And it's just so refreshing, and fun.

It's probably one great thing about great people: they won't tell you how great they are, but still you can't help but notice the charisma that they hold.

Thanks to God - it is one of the greatest of gifts to have from God - to be able to meet and know great people.

Falling Stars... Have you ever seen one?

2008-07-24T01:26:07Z

A couple of days back, late in the night, I was on my apartment's rooftop with a friend of mine at about 12:30 AM. While we were talking about different things, I was looking at the stars in the sky and suddenly, I saw a falling star - that zooooom! kind of an effect! it was really cool I must admit, really got me excited for some reason. As soon as I saw it, I yelled at my friend "abey yar, i just saw a falling star!!" and guess what was his immediate reply: "make a wish - quick!" and then we had a laugh at his comment - but I still closed my eyes, looked upwards and made a few wishes - how superstitious of me.

It's the second or third time I've seen a falling star. Have you seen any? And if yes, what was the reaction?

On a positive note, I'm really really busy - yes, being busy is very positive i believe - so pray that I don't have too many lazy breaks during this busy time :P

Some Philosophy...

2008-07-20T22:59:10Z

When I say "I don't trust you", I don't mean you're a liar, I just mean you're a human

The Dark Knight is here

2008-07-19T07:45:02Z

OMG OMG OMG I'm crazy to see this movie. I've been a BIG Batman Begins fan - the new batman series and I was expecting the sequel The Dark Knight to be the same as the Begins part BUT seems like it has surpassed all expectations as people are calling it way above the Begins part.

Oh Lord I'm just waiting for my chance to see this movie!!! Pakistan mei to abhi tak shayed kahin nahi lagii :( kisi ko pata ho to bataye!

Woah!

2008-07-08T16:45:02Z

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe.