HTTP download speeds

In some of the Web projects I’m working on, I have a choice of many small files vs few big files to download. There are conflicting arguments. I’ve read that many small files are better, because you can choose to use only the required files, and they’ll be cached across the site. (These are typically CSS or Javascript files.) On the other hand, a single large file takes less time to download than the sum on many small files, because there’s less latency. (Latency is more important than bandwidth these days.) ...

Sparklines

John Resig has written a Sparklines library. Here’s an example. I wrote that HTTP download speeds not linear 182,315,313,319,314,459,441,445,453,525,567,552,577,587,580,581,590,663,639,658,616,705,720,695,739,750,720,741,803,800,800,818,800,856,796,816,866,841,836,828,861,893,859,905,881,885,946,944,943,984,1003,1012,994,979,977,986,1010,1017,1027,1000,1035,986,1006,1006,996,1022,1003,1053,1046,1061,1002,1064,1014,1039,1061,1023,1076,1081,1019,1064,1072,1089,1101,1069,1128,1125,1092,1155,1170,1067,1094,1082,1178,1211,1154,1169,1133,1161,1193,1167 and that they flatten out over time. A linear line would look like this: 180,190,201,211,221,232,242,252,262,273,283,293,304,314,324,335,345,355,365,376,386,396,407,417,427,438,448,458,468,479,489,499,510,520,530,541,551,561,572,582,592,602,613,623,633,644,654,664,675,685,695,705,716,726,736,747,757,767,778,788,798,808,819,829,839,850,860,870,881,891,901,912,922,932,942,953,963,973,984,994,1004,1015,1025,1035,1045,1056,1066,1076,1087,1097,1107,1118,1128,1138,1148,1159,1169,1179,1190,1200 The little red line here is a sparkline that’s based on real data. John’s javascript converts the data into a graph. Sparklines were introduced by Edward Tufte.

7 little known ways to improve learning

7 little known ways to improve learning. Comments Rishi 17 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: how can i read them?

All Your Base Are Belong To Us

(If you don’t get it, see what All your base are belong to us means) via This is my pizza. Comments Grant Carpenterk 17 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: LOL, that comic was made of pure awesome! Well done on your adaptation! Grand Carp 1 Oct 2008 12:24 pm: Awesome (no I’m not Grant Capenterk, I’m making fun of his name) Carpe Grand 1 Oct 2008 5:31 pm: May I join in the fun? S Anand 1 Oct 2008 5:32 pm: Hmm… comments are going a bit off-topic here…

Crack Gmail Yahoo Mail and Hotmail passwords

MessenPass recovers passwords for instant messengers – GTalk, Yahoo Messenger and Windows Messenger included. These passwords are the same as their corresponding e-mails (GMail and Yahoo Mail at least). via Amit. Hacking Exposed Web Applications, Second Edition (Hacking Exposed) Hacking: The Art of Exploitation Hacking For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) Gray Hat Hacking : The Ethical Hacker’s Handbook Comments Sumit Dhar 11 Apr 2007 4:36 am: While on the topic of Passwords, search for Elcomsoft Password Recovery software on any Torrent site. Awesome set of applications that crack Office, PDF and many other password protection schemes.

Tamil old song lyrics quiz

Here are words from the middle of 15 old songs (before 1970). Can you guess which movie they are from? Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green. Comments Meera 14 Mar 2009 1:28 am: Its just recollection… but with joy Venkatramanan 6 Apr 2007 11:54 am: Nice! Enjoyed it banu 9 Apr 2007 12:24 pm: this is good Viju 10 Apr 2007 12:50 pm: your choice of songs is awesome Anil mattoo 11 Apr 2007 9:04 am: Great! ramesh lee 14 May 2007 3:30 am: Songs-Kannamma Kannamma brinda r 14 May 2007 6:11 am: interesting hameed 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: Could you please tell me who sang the song and in what movie- ‘‘muttu pole manjal kottu pole- mulu nilavei nee piranthaai engal veetilei’’. Thank you. sambasivam 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: enjoyable. vist look forward to more such quizes Neelaram 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: Nice jana 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: its a nice one. p.lakshmi 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: very nice floranz 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: golden old songs araNmaNai aRivaan ariyaNai aRivaan 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: golden old songs T.selvarajah 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: I dunno exately all songs are right?? thanks badhu 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: what about the answers? Vetty 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: It is so fantastic that people of all ages could enjoy listening to their favourite songs. So great is your service. You should continue like the service of the Sun TV for the Asatha Povathu Yaru. Hats off! INDIAN 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: ibotu arijavan kedubokirarkal ulaha film kalai patu atai atinsum arijamalum kedukitarkal itai mata manita jatijal mudijatu orvani tavara avantan j-aj ibadigu nalam ungal j ey indian krish 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: can be much better than the before.dont mistake. geetha 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: i have sent my asnwers priya 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: very nice P.Asha 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: This is nice santha k. nayar 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: iT IS VERY VERY GOOD. gOD BLESS YOU. MUNIPRAPAKAR 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: IT IS VERY NICE SONG IT TOUCH MY HEART HAVE TO LISTEN AT NIGHT TIME OR AT THE BEACH SIDE WITH FRESH AIR AND WAVE !!!!!! subbu CBE 6 Apr 2007 12:00 pm: its very nice and time passing.though i know 90%of songs but not able to find name of movie. you should provide ans also Jagan 30 Oct 2008 11:04 pm: Nice one.. I hum these song’s but i dont know the name of Movies. Keep it up.. dilan 10 Dec 2008 1:08 am: Its coooooooooooooooooooool.Interesting. MUNIPRAPAKAR 11 Dec 2008 2:46 am: Not Bad keep it up is very Intersting and nice too YOU CAN BE ALL BY YOURSELF……..UNGGAL NANBAN DHARMAPURI RAMIYAMPATTI S.NAVEEN 14 Dec 2008 11:03 pm: this is very useful for me. keerthivasan 19 Dec 2008 4:55 am: very Interesting kalai 25 Dec 2008 2:56 am: hi thulsi raman 29 Jan 2009 8:23 am: excellent! keep it up| sambasivam 15 Mar 2009 6:54 am: good show. keep it up. made 12/15 Jaya 22 Aug 2010 11:05 am: coolllll…………… Arun 2 Nov 2010 3:06 am: Dooes anyone know the song “aadutha vettu sottha amukka nenachavan….” (Sung by Janakaraj in a movie in jail balaji 25 Nov 2010 12:10 pm: i’ve listioned all the songs but, i cant remember the name.. it’s cool.. Shobhana 17 Oct 2011 12:32 pm: Got 15/15!!!! Sarora 30 Mar 2011 10:02 pm: ya a very nice experience………..

How to access Gmail even if it is blocked

If you just want to check if you have new mail on Gmail, use Google’s personalised home page and add Gmail to the homepage. This shows new mail and a few words as a snippet. If you want to read your mail, and don’t want to forward it to another account, use Google Groups as a backup to Gmail. Create a private Google Group and forward mails from Gmail to it. Google Groups often is not blocked, even if Gmail is. ...

Driving from California to Stockholm

Google Maps directions from California to Stockhom. Google suggests a “Swim across the Atlantic Ocean”. 3,462 miles. Estimated time: 29 days 0 hours Comments Crazyassblondechick 29 Mar 2007 9:46 pm: wow that’s really funny! nku 30 Mar 2007 2:25 am: Ha ha ha. Someone at Google taking “creativity” very seriously :) aussie desi 30 Mar 2007 10:16 pm: Someone at Google got the speed of humans in water totally wrong. In order to cover this distance, the person needs to swim 8kms an hour non stop. The FINA world record for 1500 meters is 14:34.56. Thus a person can swim only 6 kms an hour. Creativity - 10/10 Math - 0/10

Justin TV

The Truman Show is on for real, on Justin.TV. Justin wears the camera 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Even in the bathroom. Even on a date. This is really live. Honest. Right now. Justin will wear the camera until the day he dies. By which we mean if he takes it off, we’ll kill him. The show has been on for 9 days till date.

Making a Media PC

Two weeks ago, I pulled together a Media PC. This has been a long-term ambition. I’ve always wanted to have a PC as the centre of all my media. To use it as a radio, TV, stereo system, CD player, DVD player, etc. I finally did it, for just under 1000 pounds. At the centre of the setup is my 42" Plasma TV (LG 42PC1D). I was debating between a plasma and LCD TV. The differences, as I understand them, are: ...

SD Burman songs quiz

Here is the background music from SD Burman's songs. Can you guess which movie they are from? Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green. Comments Kalpesh 20 Mar 2007 1:47 pm: Dude, it throws 404 (file not found). Moreover, I think it is copy-paste problem. All tje songs point to a.mp3 ;) BTW, I like your site & have subscribed to you in bloglines. Sri 9 May 2007 8:11 pm: Cool ones…. could you give me answer to the SD Burman quiz please, I only I got 3 right :(

Sony Universal Warner and EMI the worst companies in 2007

RIAA wins the “Worst Company in America 2007”. The RIAA is mainly EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner.

Amazing physics experiments

Videos of amazing physics experiments.

Creating user friendly 404 pages

Creating user friendly 404 pages.

How Google Desktop ranks files

Google filed a patent for Google Desktop last month, that hints at how they rank search results. Last access time, where the item is stored, file type and file size are mentioned as factors, but there are probably some more left unmentioned.

GPS and Google Earth

How to use a GPS with Google Earth and map your path. Which is also a way to use your laptop and any GBP 30 GPS receiver to create a GBP 100 GPS navigator.

Scribd

Scribd is a document sharing site. Sort of like a YouTube for documents. In other words, a book-lover’s paradise. Comments Dhar 7 Mar 2007 3:52 am: Anand, I found “The God Delusion” on Scribd. What were the interesting titles you found? S Anand 7 Mar 2007 7:01 am: On Lisp by Paul Graham, Excel Time-Saving Techniques for Dummies and Patterns of Software. prakash ayer 25 Mar 2007 11:54 am: Thanks Anand. Pretty good site.

Finding Google Custom Search Engines

How to find Google Custom Search Engines. Mentions a custom search engine for Google custom search engines.

Running shoes may be harmful

Running shoes may actually cause injuries. The heel has evolved to detect the pressure of hitting the ground, and to adjust the force with which to land our feet. Cushioned shoes soften the pressure. So we tend to land with greater force, creating more stress on our bones. In fact, the more expensive the shoe, the more likely the injuries! Comments Dhar 24 Feb 2007 7:03 pm: Argh… this is crazy. I have been running for the past year or so and recently shifted to Nike Pegasus because of the cushioning it provides. The whole article seemed like a rant. Will need to check the references he quotes before I can really believe this article. That said, I will nevertheless try a bit of barefoot running as the article suggests and see if it really helps. Cheers, D.

User defined array functions in Excel

Many languages have functions to process lists (array). These functions usually return a list, so you can pass that to another list function. This chaining of functions is really powerful. UNIX provides this sort of chaining capability. If I had a cities (with some repetitions) and I wanted to find out how many started with the letter ‘A’, I’d just type: cat cities | sort | uniq | grep "^A" | wc cat: types the cities. sort: sorts the cities alphabetically. uniq: finds unique cities (works only if sorted - that's why we had to sort the list). grep: filters the cities. Only allows cities beginning with A. wc: word count To do this on Excel, the only way is to ...