Does your ISP blocks BitTorrent Traffic?

Some ISP’s block or limit BitTorrent network traffic because of legal issues like downloading pirated music, movies, softwares, etc. You can test whether your ISP is blocking your BitTorrent traffic by using Glasnost. Glasnost makes a series of tests by simulating BitTorrent protocol across your computer to their server and determines if your ISP is limiting such traffic.

Glasnost performs 3 simulation techniques:

• Throttling all BitTorrent traffic
• Throttling all traffic at well-known BitTorrent ports.
• Throttling BitTorrent traffic only at well-known BitTorrent ports

You have also had two choices from the following tests. The Full Test takes about 7 minutes to finish while the Simple Test takes only about 4 minutes.

This online tool is free and requires only a Java plug-in (JRE – Java Runtime Environment) for your browser. If you haven’t had a Java plug-in yet, you can download it here.

If you have already the following requirements, you can start your test here.

Reactable - The Coolest Musical Instrument Ever

The Coolest Musical Instrument was born by the name "Reactable". It is basically a music synthesizer that produces electro-acoustic sounds with the added features of a cool visual interface and tangible devices. It can accomodate up to four users simultaneously while it is being played. The Reactable produces sound by moving and rotating blocks called tangibles on it's glowing round table surface. By moving these objects, each represented by various components of sound synthesizers, users can create complex and dynamic music or sound effects.

The instrument was developed by a team of digital luthiers (Sergi Jordà, Martin Kaltenbrunner, Günter Geiger and Marcos Alonso), working in the Music Technology Group within the Audiovisual Institute at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain. They concentrate on the design of new musical interfaces such as tangible music instruments and musical applications for mobile devices. The reactable team was recently awarded with the "Premi de la Cuitat de Barcelona 2007" and the Icelandic singer Björk has been successfully using the reactable during the last year at her current "Volta" world tour.

The reactable intends to be:

• collaborative: several performers (locally or remotely)
• intuitive: zero manual, zero instructions
• sonically challenging and interesting
• learnable and masterable (even for children)
• suitable for novices (installations) and advanced electronic musicians (concerts)

The reactable hardware is based on a translucent, round multi-touch surface. A camera situated beneath the table, continuously analyzes the surface, tracking the player's finger tips and the nature, position and orientation of physical objects that are distributed on its surface. These objects represent the components of a classic modular synthesizer, the players interact by moving these objects, changing their distance, orientation and the relation to each other. These actions directly control the topological structure and parameters of the sound synthesizer. A projector, also from underneath the table, draws dynamic animations on its surface, providing a visual feedback of the state, the activity and the main characteristics of the sounds produced by the audio synthesizer.

The Reactable is similar to the Audiopad but this is much cooler since it uses rear projection and video tracking instead of rf tags and a giant antenna under the table.

As of this posting, the team is currently launching the industrial production of the reactable and are planning to bring the instrument to the market by the end of 2008.

You can download or watch videos and view more pics of reactable here.

PicLens - Make your browsing experience to a whole new level.

Last week, I found a great plug-in for Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari browsers and want to share it with you. This new new add-on is very cool, addictive, very easy to use, and is integrated directly into the browser. PicLens transforms your typical browser into a cool "3D Wall" which moves as you navigate a series of images.

This interactive 3D lets you to flip, drag, zoom, or even view an image into full-screen mode. You can also create a slide show of your favorite photos published on the web. PicLens also supports video streaming from YouTube. You can search your favorite video clips faster using 3D Wall. With PicLens, it makes your browsing experience into a whole new level. Visit PicLens website for more info.

I've been Awarded a Firefox 3 Certificate!

Weee! Just this afternoon, Mozilla has given me a certificate for helping the most powerful browser "Firefox 3" set the world record for the most number of downloads in a single day. It feels good to be awarded with the worlds number 1 browser, Firefox. At the top is the picture. Click the image to view it's full size. Thank You!

Always be my Baby - David Cook (Studio Version)

We were as one babe
For a moment in time
And it seemed everlasting
That you would always be mine

Now you want to be free
So I'm letting you fly
Cause I know in my heart babe
Our love will never die
No!

You'll always be a part of me
I'm a part of you indefinitely
Girl don't you know you can't escape me
Ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby
And we'll linger on
Time can't erase a feeling this strong
No way you're never gonna shake me
Ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby

I ain't gonna cry no
And I won't beg you to stay
If you're determined to leave girl
I will not stand in your way
But inevitably you'll be back again
Cause ya know in your heart babe
Our love will never end no

You'll always be a part of me
I'm part of you indefinitely
Girl don't you know you can't escape me
Ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby
And we'll linger on
Time can't erase a feeling this strong
No way you're never gonna shake me
Ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby

I know that you'll be back girl
When your days and your nights get a little bit colder oooohhh
I know that, you'll be right back, babe
Ooooh! baby believe me it's only a matter of time

You'll always be apart of me
I'm part of you indefinitely
Girl don't you know you can't escape me
Ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby
And we'll linger on
Time can't erase a feeling this strong
No way you're never gonna shake me
Ooh darling cause you'll always be my my baby....

You'll always be apart of me (you will always be)
I'm part of you indefinitely
Girl don't you know you can't escape me
Ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby
And we'll linger on (we will linger on....)
Time can't erase a feeling this strong
No way you're never gonna shake me
Ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby

Download here - Rapidshare

Firefox 3 is here!

Mozilla releases it's new version of the most popular open-source browser "Firefox 3" on June 18, 2008. With more than 15,000 improvements and includes features like smart location bar, one-click bookmarking and blindingly fast performance. More features are available from their site. Visit and download the latest version now!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day everyone. To all Dad's out there, this is a special day for all of you.

What is Father's day?

According to Wikipedia, "Father's Day is a celebration inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting, and to honor and commemorate fathers and forefathers. Father's Day typically involves gift-giving, and special dinners to fathers and family-oriented activities." It is usually celebrated every third sunday of June.


Who started Father's Day?

Sonora Louise Smart Dodd is the foundress of Father's Day celebration. She was the first to propose a Father's Day celebration and strives hard to make it an international holiday. She was officially recognized as the "Mother of Father's Day".


Father's Day Activities

As Father's Day is celebrated every third sunday of June, it would be worthwhile to have fun and organize activities with dad for this special day. Examples are Going to picnic/camping, play games, cook, or watch movies in the mall.


"A Father Is:
There in every memory
See his love and care
Strength and hands to count on
Freely he does share
Provider, toil so faithfully
To make our dreams come true
Give strong and tender discipline
Though it is hard to do
A Father is God's chosen one
To lead the family
And point it to His will for life
Of love and harmony..."
-Sue Skeen