Links

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

Videos of amazing physics experiments.

Creating user friendly 404 pages.

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.

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.

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

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.

You can download the Oscar nominated movies at Oscar Torrents, and vote for them. (No, the decision won’t be based on this – it’s completely unofficial.) via Dhar Comments zack 13 Feb 2007 12:00 pm: good downloading is enough for me

Steve Yegge at Google talks about the features of the Next Big Language. He apparantly has inside information about the language corporates are likely to make a big push for. The comments seem to suggest Javascript 2.

Kevin Smith’s top 10 films of 2006. Comments Dhar 4 Feb 2007 4:26 am: Anand, have you seen any of Kevin Smith’s movies? Dogma is excellent, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Chasing Amy, Clerks and Mallrats are pretty decent… Subir Chakma 2 Feb 2007 12:00 pm: I want to have a look on those 10 films. manoj pant 5 Nov 2008 7:02 am: thanku very much for giving me idea to select films. i m going to buy these films tomarrow

Malcolm Gladwell argues that knowing less can be an advantage. This is based on a study in which kids in the US were asked which was a bigger city: San Antonio or San Diego. Many didn’t know. Kids in Germany were asked the same. Most knew: San Diego was bigger. Why? Because they’d heard of San Diego, but not of San Antonio. P.S: A comment mentions that the actual difference in population between these cities is only 2%. So maybe the US kids were right to be unsure… ...

India Poised: a video featuring Amitabh Bachchan. Here's the transcript. There are two Indias in this country. One India is straining at the leash, eager to spring forth and live up to all the adjectives that the world has been recently showering upon us. The other India is the leash. One India says "Give me a chance, and I'll prove myself." The other India says "Prove yourself first, and maybe then, you'll have a chance." ...

How to hurt the RIAA. … I think its high time that the RIAA is not referenced by its name but rather by its members. Imagine how much it would hurt someone like Sony if each time a bad article, comment or story reached the masses it had the words representing Sony in the title. Enough of that would force a brand to leave the RIAA group because it was too damaging to their brand name. ...

A map of GDP per square kilometer across the world.

Firstly, views on the Apple iPhone: great. Next impression: not so great. You can’t use it with your eyes closed. And yesterday, Cisco sues Apple for iPhone trademark infringement. In a video on intellectual property, James Boyle at Duke Law School says, when a company starts suing over intellectual property, it’s a good time to dump their stock.

A bunch of kids draw a collage of Angelina Jolie. Interesting kids’ project for schools.

A cool psychology experiment. A student asks someone for directions. People carrying a door pass between them. Students switch. They check if the person giving directions has noticed that it’s a different person. Many people don’t notice the switch.

There are three English words ending in “-gry”. Two are “angry” and “hungry”. What is the third one? See the answer. Comments Dhar 29 Dec 2006 2:50 pm: I thought “augry” was a proper English word?? S Anand 29 Dec 2006 7:07 pm: Well, Google can’t find augry. Cameron 1 Apr 2007 11:20 pm: it is person 27 Dec 2006 12:00 pm: None it’s a riddle and you didn’t phrase it right. But this is how it goes: There are three words in The English language that end in “gry”. ONE is angry and the other is hungry. EveryONE knows what the third ONE means and what it stands for.. EveryONE uses them everyday, and if you listened very carefully, I’ve given you the third word. Look carefully at the first sentence and at the part ‘The english Language’ There are three words in that phrase, the english language the third is the word language. So language is your answer. The rest is a big trick to get you away from the obvious first sentence which holds the answer.

How hackers are using Google to pwn your site. Includes a very practical example of how to use Google Code Search to hack a MySQL account.

This is the park in front of my office in the evening. Fog completely covered London this week. Visibility: 200 ft. Hypnotic.