Tech vs Cricket

The whole world seems to be smitten by the IPL BUG or the ICC World Cup TROJEN and what makes it all the more exciting are the review options which can change the game!!

Use of tech in cricket is not a new thing; however the way it has evolved over the years has made the game more precise and accurate.

Hawk eye vision:

Hawk eye vision is one of the most sophisticated techniques devised in cricket. It comes into effect to know where the batsman is out or not. Its basically a complex computer program which predicts the trajectory of the ball once it leaves the baller’s hand. The hawk eye follows the most predictable way in which the ball goes, this is based on the line, length, wind pressure and the force by which the ball hits the pitch. All of this data is then computed by an algorithm and the decision is given by the umpire based on that.

The real work is done by the programmer who manipulates the algorithm and various other parameters, and the cheers goes to the umpire who sits inside some room, may be sleeping!

Snicko:

The snicko-meter graphically represents a sound wave which is produced when the ball hits the bat or the batsmen’s pad. The snicko which is a tiny device is placed in one of the stumps which essentially is a tiny microphone connected to an oscilloscope. Every time the ball nicks the bat, snicko picks up the noise it creates and displays it to the third umpire to review the decision.

Here too, the umpire just needs to hear the noise it creates. Such an easy job, huh???

Stump cam:

It’s a miniature camera which sits at the edge of the wickets and displays the images from the pitch length perspective. There is a radio transmitter built in the cam which sends these images to the control room via radio waves.

Meanwhile, the third umpire may be eating snacks sitting on his chair. LAZY FELLOW!!!

Hot spot:

It makes use of two infrared cameras installed at both ends of the ground and record images continuously. Everytime the bat nicks the ball, the hot spot creates a prominent white spot on the screen making it easier for the man bearing big hat (or umpire) to track the point of impact.

There are bowlers, batsmen, fielders who actually play the cricket. There lies the mob that supports them. Most imp, there are few money giants who sponsor the match – Without any arguments, all these are crucial elements for a cricket. BUT THAT GUY WITH THE BIG HAT ON THIS HEAD . . . . USELESS!!!!

By the time you finish reading this, you may google for any universities which provide graduation in umpiring – what an easy job!!!

India goes engineering

People complain me about my blog to be “too technical”. I have decided to post something which is applicable to all students who got an opportunity to pursue engineering of any stream in any Indian University.

I like to reveal what is happening in universities here. Engineering (called as BTech in Kerala, BE in other states), is divided into many streams, say Computer Science, Mechanical Engg, Electronics, Electrical, Civil etc. But in the better side, we dont have Engineering in “Golf Management” or “Home Entertainment” like courses which are provided over there in Ausies or UK universities!!

The course duration is 4 years in which the first year is tragic and utter useless. It is common to all branches. Professors tend to support that system by telling you should have a base of all streams.

From a computer engineering student’s perspective, I would like to interpret the course content of first year (some say combined first and second semester) in this way.

Engineering Mathematics 1

People tend to give mathematics an exceptional authority, “Learning maths is never a waste!” I have heard this sentence many times from many people. Infact learning anything is never a waste. But learning something out of the context on the expense of relevant subjects is stupid. That’s what this paper does in the first year.

Engineering Physics, Engineering Chemistry, Engineering Mechanics

These subjects are relevant to the old branches of engineering - Civil, mechanical, chemical etc can use this. But what we as a computer engineering student going to do with this? Once in a discussion about this, I got a funny answer. “Your computer box is made using mechanics principles, your monitor works under principle of optics and the nuts and screws are prevented from rusting using knowledge derived from learning chemistry”. If this is the case, I dont have any counter arguments!

Engineering Graphics

This paper has nothing to do with Computer-Aided-Design (CAD). But it is something very different. The subject is taught using a gun shaped instrument what we call by name “drafter” and all that we learn is some tricks on how to draw various shapes. It has got 3 hours of lab every week, and those 3 hours is a wrestling with pencil, the gun and the paper. Why not do it on a computer as CAD? This might be useful, after all CAD is not included in entire BTech syllabus (for CS students) in my university?

Basic Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Basic Electrical and Electronic Engineering

An argument that supports these subjects, “an engineer should learn the basics of all engineering disciplines”. Ya of course, I should know the exact concrete mix needed for a dam, I should know the energy cycle graph of 2 stroke and 4 stroke engines, I should know about the various semiconductor devices (I hardly remember the name of atleast one), then about Nortan's theorem (and not about Nortan Antivirus)

Technical Communication and Social Science/Studies (I don even remember the full name of that subject) :P

I have got nothing to say about this subject. We call it TCSS. Those hours were really peaceful and almost everyone can snooze :P (and no one really cared about it!)

Computer Programming

Rain in the Desert. The only enjoyable and useful subject for computer engg. students in first year!!!

Android emulator

Few people enquired me about how to test their Android app. Of course most of you have an android phone to test whether its working or not. But that is not the case with few countries, say India, (believe it or not) where Symbian still leads the Smartphone game. Why should I hide it from you? The phone I bought two months ago is Nokia C7, which is a Symbian^3 phone. So this post is to those readers who dont have an Android phone.

We can use an Emulator. An emulator runs your application as a virtual layer on other host so that you don’t have to spare an Android phone to test your apps. It runs the same base code as an actual device.

A true emulator based on QEMU is installed along with your Android SDK. It acts like a hosted virtual machine monitor. We’ll now create an Android Virtual Device to use this emulator, (from here onwards I will use the term AVD).

Open Android SDK and AVD Manager from the Eclipse Window menu. Clicking on New opens a “Create new AVD window”. Specify any parameters for your new AVD,
Name: Any name you choose
Target: Version of Android you want to install on this AVD. If you dont have targets, download them from the “Available Packages” window of Android SDK. You can also specify some hardware properties in this dialog box.

Once done, you’ll notice a new virtual device created on your AVD and SDK Manager. You can now start this AVD from “Start” option in the manager. This will open the emulator in a pop-up.
You can interact with the device just like you would with a physical device. You may use the mouse to give touch inputs and type on keyboard keys to trigger the simulated device keys.

I hope this will solve the problem of Android developers with other no device for testing. If this blog found useful for you, please "Follow". If you have any questions, you may post as comment below.

Boost your Processor speed upto 10000% using Graphene

You’ once told ‘me’ that your PC processor has a cycle speed of 3GHz or more? But we are talking about Terahertz here!!!

Have you ever noticed that processor frequency hasn’t gone up for some time? Sure, you may have hyper-threading and multiple cores, but why the processor speed is always under a chain?

The main problems of today’s processors are the speed limiting factor imposed by its transistors. Its said, the thinner the transistor, the higher is the electric field switching (which determines the clock speed). But right now the transistors in a processor measure 0.9nm in thickness. Most believe it can’t get smaller than this. So increasing clock speed by shrinking transistor in its size is over. It’s time for looking towards newer materials.

Graphene seems to be the most likely choice.

Its essentially a sheet of carbon, just an atom thick. It also allows for much higher rates of electron flow. Last year, IBM showcased Graphene transistors that were capable of switching at clock frequencies of 100GHz. But Graphene, being a zero bandgap semiconductor, it cannot be turned ON or OFF. So implementing it in convention computers has been ruled out..... oh NO!!!

Don worry... you will get a 1THz CPU soon... because recently the same research group, IBM, published in 2008 that they hoped to achieve 1THz in an optimized Graphene-transistor by switching with a gate length of 50nm and it could be implemented in conventional computers... oh yea, well datz wat we need!!!

So for now, start thinking to boot your PC in seconds or to convert your blu-ray video to your iPods in just micro seconds!!!

Prepare your PC for Android development!

What is Android?

I know you wont even read this area because, you are a developer and just need to know how to start and don need the same old explanations about this platform (copied from wiki or else where).

Yea, so Iam entering directly into the topic, as there is no need to explain what is Android to an Android developer.

How to start developing?

It was very difficult for me to start developing, so I just wish to help the newcomers. :)

So hey there, just follow me, and start counting. Your PC will be ready to serve Android apps in few mins.*

*depending on your internet connection

Begin with installation of Java Development Kit (techHeads may use this term. JDK)

Your system should meet the following requirements*

> Win XP or higher (32 or 64 bit)

> Mac OS X 10.58 or later (x86 only)

>Ubuntu v8.04 or higher

* Sorry linux guyz, I don know about your OS :)

Then, of course the link for installing JDK, itz here:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html

You should find "Download JDK".

By the time you finish downloading, you should have installed it. So the next step,

Download Eclipse software (I highly recommend this).

I was in a confusion about diff. versions. So itz here:

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/release/galileo/sr2

Download Eclipse IDE for Java and Report developers.

Instal it.

Have a cup of coffee and come back!

Your modem must be tired now... But few more downloads to go.

Next is SDK Starter package. It is not a development environment, but it includes only the core SDK tools. Download SDK from here:

http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

Over there, download and instal the required components. For Windows users, I recommend to download both files - android-sdk_r11-windows.zip and installer_r11-windows.exe

Now open your Eclipse. Select, Help -> Instal New Software. Click Add and type the following in their fields.

Name: ADT Plugin

Location: https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

IMPORTANT: In the above link, its https and not just http.

Now you see "Developer tools" added to the list. Select the checkbox, it will select the nested tools Android DDMS, Android Development Tools, Android Hierarchy Viewer and Android Traceview. Click Next.

In the resulting Instal Details dialog, the Android DDMS and Android Development Tools features are listed. Click Next to read (and accept) agreement and instal all dependencies. Click Finish.

There you are nearing for the final step: Restart Eclipse.

Now we need to Configure ADT Plugin.

In your Eclipse,

1) Select Windows -> Preferences

2) Select Android from panel on the left of the dialog box

3) Enter location of SDK directory in SDK location.

4) Click Apply and OK.

Finished!!!

If you like this blog or found this useful, please FOLLOW. Any doubts or problems, "comment" here.

So, Hello Android developer, how are doing?? :)