List of Engineering Entrance Exams

The information is intended for students appearing for Engineering Entrance Exams next year.

Though I am no engineering exam expert, here is list of exams you might find worth appearing for (obviously apart from the first two listed here).You can check the schedule and notices regarding the availability of the forms from websites like http://admissionnews.com .

1. IIT-JEE
Website: http://jee.iitd.ac.in

2.AIEEE

Website: http://aieee.nic.in

3. VIT, Vellore
Website: http://vit.ac.in

4..UPTU
Website: http://uptu.ac.in

5.National Institute of Science Education and Research
More information on http://niser.ac.in

6. BIT-SAT
http://bitsadmission.com

7. Manipal University
Website: http://manipal.edu

8.COMEDK
Though you would need to travel to Bangalore for this exam, but it's worth it. Some of the top private engineering colleges like RVCE, BMS College of Engineering etc take admission on the basis of the result of this exam. What's more you require only 45% PCM (criteria for last year i.e. 2009) to sit for this exam. More details are available on: http://comedk.org .

9. IP University
Website: http://ipu.ac.in

10. Other state specific examinations.

The Changing Face of Social Networking Websites

The way we socialize has considerably changed over a very short period of time. You no more need to e-mail the photos of the last night party to multiple people, or chat for long on the phone. Simply log on to flickr or Facebook and your job is done.

Facebook was earlier just restricted to the students of the Harward University, USA now has over 1,191,373,339 monthly visitors. No doubt it is the most popular Social Networking Website (SWN) today.

What makes these sites addictive? How do they manage to attract so many people? Some research over the internet, explains that the whole idea is based on 'narcissism'. Narcissism as defined by the Dictionary.com is 'inordinate fascination with oneself and excessive self love'. We want the world to know about anything and everything we do. Addiction follows. This is simple, since when you post something about yourself you expect replies. When you expect replies, you keep coming back to the website. This is not it, the inherent tendency to spy and peek into other's life is also deemed as one of the reason why people spend long hours on these websites.

A lot of apps on these websites itself, tell if you are addicted to them. But there's a simpler formula I believe. If the rate of your logging in to these accounts exceeds the rate at which you receive scraps,comments or notifications, you just might be a target of SNW addiction!

The basic idea behind the social networking websites, was to connect old friends and make new ones. But like every business, these websites need money to keep them running. Where does this money come from? Ads that you see and applications that you use. These applications are also designed to keep you coming for more.

With rising popularities of these websites, various businesses have started to join these websites to promote their products. Be it a celebrity page, a new band releasing it first album, or a college fest, you can be it's official fan on your favourite SNW.

But the more important question is that what is the future of SNWs ? With increasing service providers it has got difficult to manage multiple profiles for the users. You have to separately log in for Orkut, Twitter, Facebook or Blogger. At the AlwaysOn Stanford Summit 07, attended by the CEO's of various SNWs, the common idea presented was to have a single platform where users could manage multiple profiles. That's the technical aspect though. But to keep it popular among the people we definitely need better and fresh ideas on how we use these websites.

Something yet to get popular among the masses is Second Life. A virtual world where you can socialize, connect with new people, and buy property with some virtual money. You need to download the customized application and you are ready to go. Design your avatar, fly around the city (yes your avatar can really fly), chat with people, go on a date or shop, in brief live your second life. What scares me is that excessive engagement with the second life could adversely affect our real life, which is obviously our first priority!

Some tech authors also feel that the future devices would be more customized for the websites. So perhaps a couple of years from now, when you click a picture from your digital camera, it is directly posted on facebook or flickr. Or what music you are listening on your iPod, what show you are watching on TV would be on facebook instantly. Don't forget to read the Privacy Policy then! Since a lot of us mix work(me included) with social networking, embedding something like Google Docs could also be a good idea.

So is it the need to connect with friends or narcissism that keeps us addicted to these websites? Do you have any new ideas that could make online social networking more cooler? Share your opinions and thoughts with me at muditbhargava09@gmail.com. It would be a pleasure hearing from you.

Online Identiy

How many times have you have a skipped a article titled "Online Privacy and Security"?And this just might be another one. But the issue is indeed very serious.

Andy Warhol's once remarked in 1968, "In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes". What he mean't that media could enable any person to become famous. That is indeed what our current scenario is. Google your name, and you may be just on the first page of search results. In fact, a more recent adaption of Wharol's statement arising with development of social networking web sites, blogging and other online services could be "One the web, everyone would be famous to 15 minutes". Do some math to your Facebook account, it might just be accurate!

Actually having an online identity is not just a craze, but also a necessity today. Now when I speak about Online identity that includes not only social networking websites but blogging, owning personal websites or may be uploading your pictures on flickr. But why do I call it a necessity? The simple reason that backs my point is that these online services have been great tool to connect people round the globe. The simple example is the success of the forums and blogging websites. People love to share their opinions and expertise to help people wherever they may be in the world. This is one side of the story, let's call it the good part of the story.

Everybody wishes to be famous. Everybody wishes to make his importance felt. These to points form the backbone of various online services that have grown up virally. And yes, these are also the reasons why people want to have an online identity. A place where they can share their feelings, experiences and tell the world about themselves. But what's at stake is your privacy.

You've heard that before. If you see the word "Privacy Policy" on a website, you feel it's secure? It's not. In fact a lot of Privacy Policy are simply copied from the standard formats online. But let's keep it simple. Here are a few ways how your personal information can be used online?

1. Ad's

The favorite social networking website, Facebook. (I am not an anti-social networking person, and promise this is the last social networking website example). Check the ad's around, that help it keep running. You might just see your profile picture in a matrimony ad or some application may be using your picture for it's promotion! They are using your information or picture because you've allowed them to.

Of course that's avoidable. The "Privacy Settings" tab needs your attention. The default privacy settings are only set to medium levels.

2. Marketing Calls

Ever wondered, how every company seems to have a record of your mobile numbers to disturb you just at the right time. It's simple. Give your mobile number while booking an online ticket from a 3rd party website. Or simply exchange it for a pirated download.

The solution. Avoid sharing your any contact information with websites unless it's really important. For a little ease of access, we have a habit of setting things to "Auto Fill" Mode. Avoid that. As many can track these numbers, even without your permissions.

3. SPAM
Sending Particularly Annoying Messages. It's the automated robots that have got a plenty of time to send you "particularly annoying message". Even the most sophisticated e-mail clients have not been 100 per cent successful in segregating SPAM. Your important mail might just land up in your SPAM folder or some SPAM might just pop up in your Inbox. But here's what you can do. Stop mentioning e-mail address in feedback forms, sign up for too many newsletters and make sure you un-check boxes that say "Allow partner firms to send e-mail updates".

The bottom line of all this stuff is that when you have an online presence, you are easily traceable.

The next time you are looking to upload your pictures or post any information online, I recommend you to ensure that the information is used properly.

Aranya 2009-The Tech Fest of Thapar University

Right, I am putting down this quite late. But just after I came back from the fest at Thapar University there was a spur of lab tests, quizzes and the final semester exam. :) Better late than never.

Let's directly jump to the activities of Day1.

Day 1
29th October 2009
We left for Patiala by boarding a bus at the ISBT (thats Inter State Bus Terminal, Delhi) in the morning. The journey was comfortable but little fun. Nikhil(friend from college who accomponied me) was asleep for most of the journey and I spent most of the time listening to my iPod. It took us around 5 hours to reach there. We were welcomed by bus horns that sounded similar to wedding tunes you hear the band-walas play!

Okay. That's it about the journey. Reaching the college campus, we firstly completed all the registeration and accomodation formalities. We were alloted the PG Hostel . That's short or the Post Graduate Hostel. We were asked to put our beddings in the Cyber Center room of the hostel. Actually that was the only room where there was space to accommodate two people.

It was evening and after few discussions on our colleges we headed for the first event.

The core programming event, I am saying "core" because they were other events too that included programming, was titled 'Knight Coders". The literally meant that it was "night coding". We qualified for the finals of the event. But a bigger challenge lied ahead. The finals as I mentioned was an overnight event. To add to that I had woken up early that day, travelled for about 6 hrs and didn't sleep even in the bus. So I was really horrified with this idea of theirs. I tried everything to stay awake. Drank water now and then, went out for a walk in the walk. But nothing seemed to work. Infact leaning against the wall I switched off the other team's computer. It was then that Mridul and Nikhil decided it was time for me to leave. As for the event, we were able to solve one question of all. But we didn't give up till 5:00 am. Mridul and Nikhil continued till 5:30 am though!

Day 2:

Getting up after 5 hours of sleep, I got ready for the string of events that lined up for the day. I was quite slow, and we reached the venue for Crypy Raiders at the last moment. I'll discuss about the event later. We appeared for two back to back prelims and then headed for the lunch . Since we qualified both fro Crypt Raiders and Virtual Warriors, our afternoon was busy again. Crypt Raiders was an event where you had to solve some Crytic Problems and also write a code for that logic. We were quite near to the top slot, but couldn't make it finally.

Virtual Warriors was one event which Mridul insisted was not meant for us , Nikhil was sure we could do it and I agreed to both of them and sat with them for some time. They suggested they suggested that they had deviced the logic for the problem, but the implementation was quite tough.

In the evening we were back with for another prelims, Crypt Pyrates. This was one of my fave event and where I believe we had worked really hard. We qualified for the finals once again. But again this was an overnight event. Mridul and me slept by turns between the events. But this was real fun. We were in fact quite close to winning. I was really dissaspointed at the end of the event. But it was throughly enjoying.For me this was the best event. Recalling about it even today, excites me about going to the event next year again.

I also want to mention about the Star Night here where Mohit Chauhan was present. I had heard him at IIT Delhi, so comparision with that event was obvious. He was a lot better at IIT Delhi. He sang more songs there and also interacted with the audience well.

Day 3
We didn't sleep at the night of Day 2. We definately wanted to take part in the Quiz. As this was the event we have been participating since our school days. We were really excited about the quiz. After the breakfast and a quick nap, (Mridul didn't have the priveldge of that... he had to participate in a Group Discussion where he also won) Mridul and me headed for the quiz. After the prelims we were very uncertain that we would qualify for the finals of the quiz. But it was not long before that the Quizmaster announce that our team qualified for the finals. We were at the second position till the penultimate round. But for the final round the positions were tied. We played it safe, since there was negative marking. We just needed 10 points and we scored it on the last question, winning QUEEK 2009!

Our participation didn't stop here, we wanted to try our hands at the GK Quiz. The attempt was unsuccessful though.

But apart from the Quiz win the other highlights of the day was the Car show and the poetry of Dr. Kumar Vishwas. I recommend you must see this video.



Day 4
We left back for Delhi.