Let's explore the world Game : geoguessr.com

Found a nice,addictive & educational game to play when you feel boring, it's called "GeoGuessr".

This is a web based game that,  places the player on a series of five randomly-determined locations somewhere in the world and requires players to guess their location in the world using only the clues visible in Street View.

Once you are ready to guess the location, select the location on the zoom-able Google Map.After the marker is placed, GeoGuessr reveals the true geographic location and assigns the player between 0 and 6500 points, depending on how far away the player's guess was. You will give 5 chances to guess 5 places and at the end it will give you the total score.

So just give it a try for this amazing, addictive & educational game.

Visit : http://geoguessr.com/

Enjoy! 

Review on Nikon D5100

Like many people, when I decided to buy a new DSLR camera I researched various DSLR models, on line to the point of going crazy. 

Lot of web sites argue that some brand is better than other brand (As an example Nikon vs Canon war)

At last after going through various web sites DSLR reviews & youtube videos, finally purchase the Nikon d5100 with 18-55mm kit lense.

First of all I am really happy with the purchase and also I got a cash back deal from Nikon UK, so that I can spare some of my budget on SD card, camera bag & a tripod.

Secondly I am happy because I managed to take decision and leave the tiresome research & start taking photographs.

My first impresion of the Nikon d5100 is that it seems really light for a DSLR camera. I am not a professional photographer although I like taking photography as a hobby. In my opinion I can summarised pros & cons as follows,

Pros

• Flip-out screen
• Good image quality (Specially in low light condition) 
• Value for money deal comparing to other competing DSLR models

cons

• No weather sealing
• Lack of  panorama feature (not that important)
• Battery life average.

Checkout out my photo blog (photospear.blogspot.co.uk) where I have post latest  images that has taken from my Nikon D5100.

By the way below are some of the web links that I used in my research to buy my first DSLR.

http://snapsort.com/

http://www.dpreview.com

http://www.kenrockwell.com/

http://www.nikondigitutor.com/eng/d5100/index.html (D5100 Manual)

http://www.cameratips.com/d5100

I hope above information will be very helpful for people who wish to purchase their first DSLR.

Enjoy.  

Internet Explorer The Nightmare Of Web Developer

After long time of silence I thought of writing a blog post about a web browser that have slowed cyber world. Internet Explorer is considered to be the nightmare of web developer due to its notorious way of rendering web pages. Recently I came across several bugs of IE and it really made my life a hell.



The funniest thing is that I need to write separate specific code for not only for IE browser but also to it's different versions as well.I don't know why Microsoft does not understand the meaning of the English word 'standards' or 'consistency'.

And other thing is that other web browsers will force their users to upgrade to newer version of a software as soon as there is a update but in IE, Microsoft is not bothered to force their clients to upgrade or at least inform the users there is a new version released.




Google has come up with a good solution for IE issues with introducing Google chrome frame plugin. This enable IE users to experience what they have missed in web. For more information visit chromium project.

I don't know why Microsoft is acting like a bunch of idiots while other people like Google have to fix issues of IE. So I think Microsoft must rethink their strategies and help the web to grow rather than slowing the web community.

Review on HP G62-b13sa Laptop

Few weeks back I got HP G62-b13sa Laptop for special discount of 360£. I think this price was reasonable for 3GB RAM, 320GB hard drive,15.6" screen and Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium.
The following are the Pros and Cons that I have seen on HP G62-b13sa laptop,

Pros

1) Finished in Biscotti with a stylish Prism pattern which is very attractive.
2) Inbuilt webcam and Microphone work perfectly.
3) Sound quality is excellent.
4) Although the processor is not that much powerful, it seems to handle multitasking work without any issue.
5) Very lighter(2.20KG) than some laptops.

Cons

1) Keyboard key layout is very confusing.They have included 5 short cut keys to left of the keyboard and this some times becomes messy when you are in a hurry typing, you will press the short cut key instead of the standardised keys such as shift,ctrl etc that normally resides in left of the keyboard.

2) Touch pad does not have a clear boundary with the laptop body. So It is bit hard to scroll and move the mouse some times when you are in a hurry. Also right and left click buttons seems to be bit rigid.

So other than the track pad and keyboard layout issue, I think HP G62-b13sa Laptop is a value for money product.

Enjoy!

Visit:- Check Full Specification

MR vs SF - Who Will Win Sri Lankan Presidential Election 2010?

With few days to the Presidential election both side MR(Mahinda Rajapaksa)& SF(Sarath Fonseka) are trying to gain the floating vote of the people that haven't decide to whom to be vote.

MR with his band of ministers are using their full strength in slinging mud towards the opponent and misusing the government resources. While SF is giving false promises to everyone he met although I am quite sure he will not have any idea how to execute his promises & specially when he forgets the people who have helped him to become the army commander, he will surely forgets his promises if he come to power.

Unfortunately or fortunately this time i will not be able to vote because i am not in Sri Lanka at the time but if I vote I will vote MR because he is more cunning actor than SF and to control a country like Sri Lanka we need person like that.May be lot of people will disagree but that's my personal opinion.

Following are the official web sites of both candidate if you wish you can visit those site as well.
Visit :-
Mahinda Rajapaksa official web site
Sarath Fonseka official web site

Laptop Driver Really Gave Me A Hart Attack

Recently i got the opportunity to install windows xp on a laptop although for some people it will be nothing but for me it was first time in a laptop. So i was very careful and somehow the installation went smoothly and successfully completed. Because there was no driver cd's given i have to go the HP web site and download all the drivers for laptop model HP compaq 510 model.

After installing all the drivers as i was shutting down the laptop i felt that it took more time to shutdown and seems like the laptop have been hang at the shutdown displaying the message "Windows is Shutting Down". I tried few times like this and every time laptop freezes up at the shutting down.

I was really got scared what the hell just happened because there is nothing wrong with the windows xp cd that i have. So i googled about Windows XP shutting down issue in compaq 510 model and found out that this happens due to some driver software issue but the forums didn't specifically mentioned what driver it cause this issue. Also as a one my friends advice i tried to shutdown the laptop from the safe mode and it shutdown the laptop smoothly.

So now i had the task of identify which driver that giving me this issue so i tried one by one disabling the components and check if it works and at last i found that the culprit was the web cam driver as i disable it the laptop shutdown as usual. Still there was no solution because it is a headache to disable and enable the device and the person who is using the laptop was not a IT friendly person. So i tried uninstalling and installing webcam driver few times but it didn't work.

As i was going through the control panel Add/Remove Programs i found that web cam driver also install some software also other than the driver it self and i removed that software from Add/Remove Programs and bingo it worked. So at last after wasting a almost a day i found the solution.
So that was my first adventure of installing Windows xp on a Laptop. :)
Enjoy..

Facebook and Privacy

This week big revolution happened in the most popular social network web site Facebook with it's introduction of new privacy settings. So I just did some analysis going through some forums.

The changes treat as "publicly available information" the following: your name, profile picture, current city, gender and networks, and the pages you're a fan of.
Until now, you had the option of restricting much of that information. That option has been removed.

And also friend list is now included in mandatory public information and users can no longer control which friends can see their friends list.This was another negative point in privacy that pointed out in some forums.

And also the other shocking thing that I found out that the Facebook people have reset the privacy settings of the users accounts and some users who haven't logged in recently does not know that all their details are now can be access publicly.

I think Facebook people should be more careful about what they do in connection with privacy of Facebook users.

For More Details:-
CNN
Techcrunch

Vote For Your Favorite Sri Lankan website (www.bestweb.lk)

"The Most Favorite Sri Lankan Website Award” is an contest organized by the LK Domain Registry in collaboration with the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) with the main objective of promoting and popularizing Sri Lankan websites in Sinhala, Tamil and English languages.

The competition will be held in all three categories of Sinhala, Tamil and English websites and the winners will be awarded from each category on the number of votes received.

So anyone can participate in this voting procedure which also awards exciting gift packs from the sponsors of the competition to the lucky voters.

Voting will be available till 11th November 2009, So hurry up and cast your vote at www.bestweb.lk for your favorite .LK domain.

Visit :- www.bestweb.lk

Politicians And Road Names in Sri Lanka

In my life one of the people i really hate are politicians because of their lies & they all ways make problems to people rather than giving solutions to the people.

This is a story about a similar case that the politician making bloody mess out of a road name.I am living in Maharagama Pradeshiya Sabha area and one day they have just removed the old name board of our lane and replaced with a new name.

They never informed us about the changing the name and what we found about the real truth about this incident is really shocking.

The rename have occurred due to family living in our road and with a backing of a politician in the Maharagama Pradeshiya Sabha.The family needed to name the road by their fathers name who is nobody and haven't done any work to the area.By the backing of a dirty politician they have done so.

In our lane there around more than 35 families living and nobody except the family who have involved in this incident doesn't like this move. So we have written a latter with our signatures to the Maharagama Pradeshiya Sabha to reinstall the previous name of the road. And after few weeks they have sent a letter asking both parties who like & dislike the move to come to Maharagama Pradeshiya Sabha to settle the problem rather than reinstalling the previous name that has been for the last 25 years.

This is a just another single small incident that have created by politicians in Sri Lanka that shows that they are capable of creating new problems rather than solving problems that is already occurred.

At Last Watched Transformers 2

Yesterday with some of friends i watched Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen at Majestic City.

It was really great action packed movie that should really watch. I think they had increased the action scene in the latest Transformer movie than the first one.

Although some people say that the latest one is not better than the previous movie i think it is not true although there is some increase of some crude and sexual material still anyone can enjoy the action & comedy stuffs in the film.

Although i haven't found any torrent of the film i will post a web site that does have some links to watch this film online.
So if you have not watched this amazing film don't miss it watch it.
Enjoy...

Visit :- Watch Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Google Chorme Invading Microsoft Windows???

What Google is going to put their hands in operating systems?? That's right!! That is going to be happen in 2010 according to official Google Blog.

The new OS also known by Google Chorme going to be a open source and it is going to be a grate thing and i hope that Google will launch it's OS in a amazing manner.

According to Google the new Google Chorme OS will concentrate mainly on Speed, simplicity and security.Probably that's what Microsoft windows is lacking and it is a good thing of having competitors for operating system rather than a single company dominating the market.
Enjoy...

Visit For Details :- Official Google Blog

Kaspersky Really Let me down............

Today I had a bad day with a spyware because of my trust worthy anti-virus Kaspersky failed to do it's job.

Yesterday one of my friend borrowed my flash drive and returned to me this morning, knowing that there maybe nasty surprise waiting inside my pen drive i immediately scanned my pen drive with Kaspersky anti-virus and it came all clear in the scan.

So without thinking i right click on the pen drive icon and opened it.For a second i thought that i have done a mistake because it took some time(30 seconds) to open the pen drive & it opened in a separate window.But still i didn't got any idea about what is happening behind the screen.

When i open my Internet Explorer(IE) browser i found that my home page that i have set to yahoo in IE have been changed to a site call "www.cssa.co.nr" and IE window title "Chiku was here - gchinthaka@gmail.com".

i immediately scanned my pen drive in my old machine which has free AVG virus guard and AVG immediately caught the culprit a file call "chiku2008.vbs" a VBScript virus.
So Kaspersky really shattered the trust that i have to it by letting a small VBScript virus to get though uncaught.

i removed all the registry values that starts with "Chiku" but still when ever i change the "Window Title" in windows registry it will not save the change.
And i found out that in my running processes there was this "wscript.exe" and when i kill that process and edit the registry value it solve my problem.

But when i google about it i found out that wscript.exe is a windows process that handle VB scripts and i found a software Noscript.exe from symantec.com to disable this process.

So after wasting hours i finally got through this shit and if i caught the person who develop this virus crap i surely going to kill him.
From now on i am not going to trust Kaspersky or the crap IE.
Enjoy........

King of Pop Michael Jackson Voice Will Never Dies!!

i still can't believe it... when i saw the CNN news about King of Pop death.I really liked his songs and it was a shock to hear the news that King of Pop Michael Jackson left this world for ever saying goodbye to all the fans of his around the globe.

Michael Joseph Jackson who was born in August 29, 1958 have invaded the pop world by his five solo studio albums are among the world's best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995).

You are now in a better place Michael & rest In Peace.Although you will be missed but your music will live on forever in this world.

Vacancy For Batsman In Sri Lankan National Cricket Team!!

Probably in next few months Sri Lankan Cricket board will be putting a public advertisement for 'Vacancy For Batsman's' as the Sri Lankan team crashed landed in ICC T20 world cup 2009 in front of a inconsistent Pakistan team because of the failure of the Batsman's.

Specially Jehan Mubarak & Chamara Silva should be replaced because of their total failure in this tournament.They have been selected as full time batsman and haven't acted as batsman.

So Sri Lankan Cricket board should find some all rounders such as TM dilshan,Sanath Jayasooriya that can bat well rather than depending on full time batsman who fails to do their job.

I am really disappointed of Sri Lankan team in ICC T20 world cup 2009 finals.They should have done better than this.
:|

Entrecard - Does It Help Your Blog In Getting Traffic?

"What the heck is Entrecard?" that was my first question i asked my self when i first saw it in a friends blog.

Actually Entrecard is supposed to be your e-business card which has a capability of introducing your blog to people around the cyberspace.

When you join Entrecard, you'll have the opportunity to create your own 125x125 business card.

This card will also represent your ad when you advertise on another site in the network.

According to entrecard.com following are some advantages that blogger get from Entrecard,

1. Boost your visitors
2. Grow your audience
3. Network with other bloggers
4. Market products and services
5. Get the help you need to succeed

To experiment i also joined entrecard.com but still i haven't got any increase my blog traffic probably because it's just first week of my Entrecard.

I also found this great YouTube video that i attached within my blog post. So hope you also find this Entrecard will be useful. But for me still it haven't impressed me yet. But who knows?? :P
Enjoy....

Visit :- www.entrecard.com

Sri Lanka goes for ICC World Twenty20 2009 semis in style!

Sri Lanka's once again display to the world that the Sri Lankan team is the best in the Twenty20 cricket by slicing through New Zealand at Trent Bridge and securing the spot in the semi-finals of the ICC World Twenty20 2009.

It is very amazing to watch Sri Lanka play although Sri Lankan master blaster Sanath Jayasuriya failed this match but TM Dilshan,kumar sangakkara & mahela jayawardena manage to get Sri Lanka a good 159 total.

New Zealand challenged the target of 159 briefly but Ajantha Mendis turned the game Sri Lanka's way by dismissing Ross Taylor and Scott Styris within a single over.

This is grate match exhibit the unity & team work of Sri Lankan team by everyone in the team contribute to the massive win of 48 runs against New Zealand.

I hope that Sri Lanka will be able to win ICC World Twenty20 2009 series.
Enjoy...

Great Sri Lankan comedian Annesley Dias Farewell to the Nation

Annesley Dias, a great comedian Sri Lanka have ever produced, passed away on June 12th. He was 81 years at his death. Annesley, a versatile comedian, not only made his audiences laugh, but also really happy.

He became popular as Hamu Mahaththaya in the Vinoda Samaya radio drama.

Later, he acted roles in several television programs.Anesley Dias engaged mostly in comic dramas with Berty Goonathilaka and Samuel Rodrigo, also with Mercy Edirisingha.

I have attached one of YouTube videos that i came across that was telecasted in early 90's. I really like those sinhala comedies of Anesley Dias, Berty Goonathilaka and Samuel Rodrigo triple when i was a child and still feel the feeling when i watched these old videos.

So it's very sad day for all the fans of this grate comedian....

USB Keybord Issue Really Got Me!!

I was helping one of my friends in installing his new machine with Windows XP when i really came across this scenario.

After i set the BIOS first boot devise as the CD ROM and trying to boot from the windows XP CD the screen shows that it has detected the CD and shows the message "Press any key to boot from CD" but when i press Enter or any other key it skip to the next boot device.

Finally i found out that although the keyboard works fine when you in BIOS screen but as soon the PC trying to boot from the CD the keyboard get disable. This is really funny!! :P
So finally i tried out a PS/2 keyboard guessing that there may be issues with USB keyboards and my guess was right and it really booted from CD like a baby. :D

I don't know what was the reason for this unpredictable behavior. probably the motherboard issue(it's a Gigabyte motherboard) or else the keyboard(maybe because the keyboard is Panora brand made in China) or else it's probably a issue with USB keyboards it self.

I really don't know the actual answer but i will never going to recommend a USB keyboard to anyone in future!!
Enjoy....

Can Microsoft Bing Conqure World Of Search Engines?

Microsoft have officially unveiled its new search engine "Bing" which is the replacement for the unpopular Live Search of Microsoft.

I tried this Bing search engine and seems to me that there is no special difference and to me it's like copying features from ask.com and Google search engines.

Probably it's too early to predict the future of this new Microsoft Bing search engine because it's just launched but i think to compete with Google, Microsoft people should do better than this.
In the future i hope that battle for search engines going to be a hot topic.
Enjoy..

Visit :- www.bing.com

Sri Lanka Defeats Western Countries In United Nations Human Rights Council!

The United Nations Human Rights Council voted heavily in favor of Sri Lanka against a few western nations who were ganging up to condemn Sri Lanka for its alleged conduct in the war against terrorists.

Western countries have been heavily involve in Sri Lankan conflict and have been using deliberate covert measures to stop the war against the terrorist movement LTTE till the last moment. But Sri Lankan government at the end defeated LTTE terrorists in it's 30 years civil war and brought peace to this island nation.

In the United Nations Human Rights Council Sri Lanka resolution presented against the Western allegations received 29 votes against the 12 who opposed it. Six nations abstained from voting. There was a high unity among Asian countries in the council, specially the rivals such as India & Pakistan came under same team in supporting Sri Lanka in defeating the evil plot of few western countries.

This convey a strong message to the western countries who think they are superior than other countries that to stay away from other countries internal issues.