A gaping mouth was all I had when my 3 year ol’ Canon Powershot S1 IS’s LCD/EVF went blank all of a sudden a few months ago. Nothing could be seen, clicking the picture button resulted in blank pics. Googling about it revealed an advisory by Canon, stating that it is a known issue with the CCD image sensor. Canon impressed me by that notice when they said they will fix it for free, even for cameras out of warranty period, and will also pay to-and-fro shipping. Contacting canon support in India (support, in India? Is that a joke?) resulted in just their ignorance about any such advisory.

Undeterred, I sent the camera to the land of dreams (USA) with a friend, e-mailed the Canon USA support at carecenter@cits.canon.com with my predicament, and they promptly sent shipping labels to my friend. So far so good. But a couple of months went by, with no word from them. Customer support told me they are awaiting parts. Sad I was that day .

One fine day, I just checked the status of the return shipping label on a whim, and found that they had shipped my camera back. I was disheartened thinking it had been returned unrepaired, but then my friend called to let me know that they had sent some other camera back. I thought they might have sent some low price, refurbished camera, but atleast a working camera is better than a non-working one.

Today my friend came back from the US, and what do we have? A brand spanking new Canon Powershot S5 IS (8 MP, 12x Optical zoom, flip out and twist LCD). Yessir . I truly heart Canon. Here is a pic of my new baby (Ah, the irony, the clicking powerhouse has been clicked with a low-res phone camera, but anyways.)

Note: Contact canon immediately if you are facing the same problem and your camera is one of these:

- Camcorders: ZR60, ZR65 MC, ZR70 MC, ZR80, ZR85, ZR90, ELURA 40 MC, ELURA 50
- Digital Cameras A60, A70, A75, A300, A310, S230, SD100, SD110, A40(*), A80(*), A85(*), A95(*), S1 IS(*), S60(*), S200(*), S330(*), S400(*), S410(*), S500(*)

As I wrote a few days ago, though India is supposedly the biggest democracy in the country, it hardly displays any signs of being so. Every right of any citizen can be demolished in the garb of democracy. The biggest offenders are our dear leaders, who become leaders to lead India towards a democracticly divided country where, if they could have their wish, every citizen of the country would have his ver own personal state.

The latest example is today’s parliament session, where all of them wanted to garner some free points by asking for waivers for farmers, which will anyways be announced tomorrow. The end result – The session could not be comleted and the speaker had to end it by saying “You are all working overtime to finish democracy in this country”.

But I beg to differ Mr. speaker sir, because they are not working to finish the democracy, they have already finished it. Now, they are just working to get their own monarchy established here..

If you have ever lugged around your laptop to Barista/Cafe Coffee Day, or have seen others doing the same, then you WILL most definitely be interested in seeing these geeky counterparts of yours (in starbucks though).

Came across this funny, but still thought provoking, definition of an engineer.

(Taken from “The Embedded Muse”, a useful embedded stuff related newsletter published by Jack Ganssel.)

“An engineer is a person who passes as an exacting expert on the basis
of being able to turn out with prolific fortitude infinite strings of
incomprehensible formulas calculated with micrometric precision from
vague assumptions which are based on debatable figures taken from
inconclusive experiments carried out with instruments of problematical
accuracy by persons of questionable mentality and doubtful reliability
for the avowed purpose of annoying and confusing a hopelessly
chimerical group of esoteric fanatics referred to altogether too
frequently as technicians.”

Crossposted to both my blogs: My Technophilic Musings and Never Knew I Was Living In The World

Quote of the day: Grandpa: My Homer is not a communist. He may be a liar, a pig, an idiot, a communist, but he is not a porn star.
© Shantanu Goel | Engineer: A New Definition

Had watched this video a few months ago, when Channel V was running “launchpad” (An awesome show BTW) and just got so hooked that I went onto the net immediately to download the song and make it my ringtone. Have transferred it/e-mailed it/copied it to so many friends over these months. Your old favourite “Tan Dole, Mera Man Dole” in metal. The guitaring is just too good. Have a look.

The 7:00 AM alarm shrieked into my ears. A handful of 1 minute snoozes later (exactly 30 of them later), I drag myself around the house like a zombie, trying desperately to get to the bus stop on time. Somehow, putting on an ensemble of body-drapers (some people like to call them clothes), I reach the stop, eyes still half closed. The watch says its 8:50. The driver’s late again. I make a mental note to report it today definitely. But then I feel its a bit too quiet. I take another look and it dawns on me. I’m the only one standing in the middle of a place which has everything a big city has, except, THE PEOPLE. The scene looks straight out of that Resident Evil movie.

Just as I was looking around for any signs of Milia Jovovich, there is a blazing flash. Was it a nuclear bomb? No, I’m still alive but looking into my eyes, is a guy out of nothing less than Star wars (Just my lucky day, phew, all the costume drama has to be played out with me only). The mystery man speaketh “I’ve come from the future. You’ve got to travel back in time and save the earth. No time for questions, you’ll understand everything when u reach”.

“Swanky dude from the future – check, cryptic message – check, Free ride -check, Super Hero Status awaiting me – check”, I do the math and I had been delaying a vacation for a long time anyways, so I take him up on the offer (Maybe he’d also throw in the cool glasses that he was wearing, just for the effect).

Poof and suddenly, the space around me fills with loud noises. I look around and find its a cricket stadium. I feel confused. Watch says January 6, 2008. Still Confused. january 6, 2008. January 6, 2008. JANUARY 6, 2008. And in a zen-like fashion, its all clear to me. I run onto the pitch, and tackle a certain Indian player down to ground so badly that he has to be taken to the hospital. I get arrested by the police. But I’m happy and content even though the world will never know that I saved it. I saved it from the wrath of the monkeys who wiped us out, infuriated that Bhajji compared them to Symonds.

(Disclaimer: I take no responsibility of any mental-disorder, hair loss or related symptoms that might occur as a result of reading this. And I sincerely hope that none of you will take an oath to hunt me down till the end of eternity :))

No, I’m not asking you to get lost, I’m asking you to “get” LOST, because its here. Season 4 began hours ago, just waiting for it to go online now :). Till Then, read this:

Six reasons to look forward to season four of Lost

I woke up today to the news of Chiranjeevi’s fans bashing up someone called Rajsekhar and his family. Now, I don’t know who Rajsekhar is (or didn’t know until I read the news) but still was a bit interested in what act of his brought this to him. And I was aghast to know that the petty reason behind it was that he had stated the fact that Chiru doesn’t have political experience and that he won’t join his party when it’s launched. This little comment of his was enough to enrage Chiru’s fans so much that they chased him on roads in true gundaraj fashion, ultimately catching hold of him and thrashing up not just him but his wife and daughters as well.

When will we stop this fanaticsm, is the only question in my mind. Everywhere I can see a different kind of it. In what is supposedly the largest democracy in the world, the right to freedom of speech seems to be rapidly and democraticly outlawed by a majority of the nation. One can’t live another day if he speaks what he feels about <Insert here the name of any religion, party, community, region, filmstar, and what not>. Everyone has their nose a bit too long this days, especially the one running the country (Someone ought to read them the Pinnochio story). Can’t we just ignore somethings in life. It would make our lives so much smoother. I had read a story as a child which gave an apt analogy. If you offer someone something to eat, and he doesn’t take it, it remains with you. The same way if choose to ignore someone’s comments and walk away, what harm is it doing to you? But I guess such an act is commonly termed as “cowardice” these days.

Now, I think even I must stop or someone reading this might just develop a grudge against me. And I sincerely hope that Chiru’s fans are not tech-savvy enough to go online and read blogs, especially this one. (Wanted to insert a smiley here, but am unable to decide whether this predicament is something to take fun out of or to force oneself to take a look around one)