Month: December 2004

Upgrading from Fedora Core 2 to Fedora Core 3

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Upgraded my linux machine from Fedora Core 2 (Tettnang) to Fedora Core 3 (Heidelberg). Here are the steps I followed.
[1] Downloaded the ISO images (FC3-i386-disc1,2,3,4.iso) from ftp://sunsite.utk.edu/pub/linux/fedora/3/i386/iso/ .The download took about 10 mins each for each CD image. Maybe it was faster because I was in my office and downloading from the UTK network. So, maybe it was like downloading over the LAN.
Note: For faster downloads, choose the mirror nearest to you: http://fedora.redhat.com/download/mirrors.html
[2] Created the CDs from the ISO images using Roxio Easy CD Creator
[3] Inserted CD1 into my Linux machine and rebooted it.
[4] Chose the “Upgrade” option after reboot.
The total process took about 2 hours. Everything seems to be working well.
Note: Make sure you have all 4 CDs before you start the upgrade process.
More Links:
– Fedora Project Homepage
– Mirrors
– Wikipedia page about Fedora

2004 Google Zeitgeist

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Google released its 2004 Year-End Google Zeitgeist list yesterday (Thu, 12/23). It lists the terms most frequently entered into the company’s search engine over the past 12 months.
The most popular queries for 2004 are:
[1] Popular Queries: Britney Spears
[2] Popular Men: Orlando Bloom
[3] Popular Women: Britney Spears
[4] Popular Consumer Brand Names: Ebay
[5] Top Public Figures: George W. Bush
and many more…
And “Zeitgeist” is a german word which means: “the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era”
Related Links:
– Google Press Center: Zeitgeist
– News article at ZdNet
– Google Blog

Google SMS

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Came across Google SMS. It is a service (still in Beta) introduced by Google where users can send phone book listings, dictionary definitions, product prices etc. I decided to try it out.
Note: The queries need to be sent to 46645 (GOOGL).
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Case 1 (Local business info)
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Query: papa john 37919
Reply:
Papa John’s Pizza: UT Campus
South 1819 Lake Ave
Knoxville, TN 37916
865-522-7272
Papa John’s Pizza: Northwest
5617 Western Ave
Knoxville, TN 37921
865-546-7272
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Case 2 (Zip code info)
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Query: 37919
Reply: zip code for Knoxville, TN
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Case 3 (Area code info)
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Query: 865
Reply: area code for Eastern Tennessee
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Case 4 (Word definition)
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Query: define alacrity
Reply: Glossary: * alacrity: liveliness and eagerness; “he accepted with alacrity”. Source: www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn
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I think the service is pretty interesting and very useful too. I intend to use it more in the future.
Related Links:
– http://sms.google.com/
– Wallet size Tips Sheet (36 kb pdf)
– PC World article (10/07/2004)

.mobi and .jobs domains

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ICANN has given the preliminary ok to two new domains – “.mobi” and “.jobs”.
The “.mobi” domain names would be for websites and other services that that are specially designed to work around the limitations of cell phones, including their smaller screen size and data capacity.
The “.jobs” suffix, meanwhile, would be for employment agencies/human resource departments – for example, the job postings section of corporate websites.
.post and .travel domains had also been given preliminary approval in October 2004.
Related Links:
– Yahoo News
– BBC News
– News item at ICANN.ORG

Ocean’s Twelve

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Just came back after watching Ocean’s Twelve. I have been waiting for this movie for about 3 months. I really enjoyed the movie. It was great! Compared to Ocean’s Eleven, this is a less action but more fun movie. I don’t know which one is better – Ocean’s Eleven or Ocean’s Twelve? But if I have to choose one, I guess it would be Ocean’s Eleven.
Bottomline: A fun movie and definitely worth watching.
Note (1:30 AM 12/11/2004): Just remembered noticing in the movie that Catherine Jeta-Zones’ name is Isabel Lahiri. Struck me as a bit odd. Because Lahiri is a Bengali lastname.
Update (1:35 AM 12/11/2004): Found a related article.
Related Links:
– Review at Yahoo Movies
– Official website
– Ocean’s Twelve page at IMDB