NetBeans6.1: Editor ScreenShot on Drag

NetBeans6.1 has quite a lot of small and big but significant features. I have come across a few yet. I ll try them and blog about them as and when I meet them :)
Today i saw something unusual as i dragged my editor tab.
As soon as i dragged the editor window, a screen shot of the editor window got attached with the dragged icon. I switched back NetBeans6.0 to confirm if i had missed it in NetBeans6.0. But yeah this is the new feature of NetBeans6.1. The screen shot is the most recent version of your file.
So how do you do it? Simple, click the editor tab and drag!


Looks that NetBeans6.1 has some inbuilt feature which can take screen shots and append it to the tab icon on Drag. Need to investigate the sources. If screen shots become possible from inside NetBeans then writing tutorials and blogging becomes very easy.

Also the same applies for all the TopComponents present in your NetBeans window(Project tab, files tab, output tab etc.)

Google Maps: Virtually Real!!

These days I am on a job hunt. Looking for a job in US. I posted my resume on a few sites. I got a response from a recruiting agency. I was curious about where that agency is located. And i turned to my favorite maps.google.com for help. I put in the address and searched. As usual it showed me the map and the location. But soon my eyes caught the "Street View" option besides traffic. I just clicked it and to my surprise i was seeing the actual 3D view of the street as if i am navigating the street. You can turn left, right, 360, walk further, see the cars. Its so virtually real. My next destination was Googleplex, Mountain View, CA. And you can see the google campus from ground zero. Amazing.. But wait!! They haven't done it for all cities yet. San Francisco is the first one i guess. Though this feature may have been there for sometime now, but i am truly amazed and my jaws fell when i saw it for the first time today.
Some places you can try:-
Ghirardeli (Chocolates) - Ghirardelli Square, 900 North Point St, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States
Golden Gate Bridge(as if you are walking the bridge sans the traffic and breeze:( ) - Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States

Ferry Building(the famous American Express building) - 1 Ferry Bldg, San Francisco, CA

Significant Contributors at CFF

Anil, Shantaram and myself won the Significant Contributors Award at Code For Freedom contest organised by Sun Microsystems. We won an i-Pod shuffle , a certi and a Sun Microsystems T-shirt(coolest of all). It was indeed a nice achievement, rather the biggest for any of us till now. We see this as the stepping stone for a longer journey into the exciting world of coding. There's lot to be done still. Creativity has no boundaries, be it in any field.
However this achievement has really boosted our confidence and time will reveal what's in store for us.

Sun Tech Days, Hyderabad '08

Here are few snaps of the recently concluded Sun Tech Days, Hyderabad '08

Euphoria Performance!! Is it over or a beginning?

We performed at Euphoria'08. Just two months back we were in a dilemma whether we'll put up a performance or not. And on 6th March, BEC1 lit up the stage with a thrilling performance sending a very strong message. Our theme revolved around Indian Students leaving India and becoming NRIs(Non-returning Indians). This can be closely related to Swades (SRK movie).

However, the only difference was that we were not performing but we were feeling it. Many of my batchmates are leaving for US(including me) to pursue MS. Most of them have secured an I-20. Within few months they'll land on the US soils. And statistics show, very few come back after their studies. Most settle down with a good(well paid compared to their counterparts in India) job and family.

Our performance at Euphoria made me have a 2nd thought. Is the scenario same today? Will I return? Will my classmates return? I somehow get the feeling "yes". I feel this from my heart, but can't justify it. Its just an intuition. It is answer to one of those questions which can't be proved using a mathematical formula or theory. It is a matter of belonging. You feel good when your at home.

I don't have justifications. May be because the medium is different. I am feeling it from my heart and expressing through words.

What do you feel? Is it the End or the Beginning ?

Fantasy Dalal Street

Shantaram and myself are out with Fantasy Dalal Street. You can trade with real stocks, real prices and fake money. You are alloted a huge sum of Rs. 50,00,000 to invest in BSE 30 scripts. All you need is to go to http://fds-euphoria.co.nr/ , Register and start trading. Right now its only open for our college students as a part of College's Cultural Events but soon we'll be launching an enhanced version of the game.

Shantaram and myself were very excited by the world of virtual Stock trading. So we decided why not venture in it and start FDS. It gives you the experience to deal with real prices and stocks without any real money on stake. And apart from that the bottom line lied in undestanding the deeper concept of JSP/Servlets. Sun Tech Days has been a great boost. You'll surely have a next version based on the latest technology by Sun, may be using Visual Pack for NetBeans with implementations of Ajax. So keep watching.

I have so much to blog about!!

Suddenly I have lots of topics to blog about.
1.) Sun Tech Days
2.) Our Class's Sports trophy(finally)
3.) Fantasy Dalal Street
4.) Significant Contributor award by Sun Microsystems, India.
and so many small instances which have affected my life.

While the Hyderabad visit for the Sun Tech Days was a fruitful one, our class's Sports Throphy victory was a nostalgic one. The history that runs behind this win can actually be a script for a new thrilling Movie(:-0). It took the arguably the best sports team in the college to get what it deserved. Yes ! The most coveted trophy at Fr. CRCE is finally ours. Emotions ran high on the sports day. I just came back from Hyderabad and went straight to Wellington Sports club, Khar. As soon as i got off the rickshaw, I saw Sameer getting into the act for the 4X100m Relay. I just patted on his back and crossed the track on the other side to get the acquainted to the situation. I was told that this relay was the decider. The equation was simple if we win some points in the race, we are in the race for the trophy else we are out!!. This meant we had no chance if we lost the relay and TEE came 1st(Worst case scenario).

Whistle Blew!! Sameer was off and accelerating, passed the baton to Rohit who still kept us in the race.. Race was competitive. And suddenly Anirudh fell during the 3rd
lap. Our heart beat hard. Faces Tensed. But Anirudh gathered all the courage and stood up to run again with a bleeding leg. All of us started cheering. Vineet finally completed the last lap. To our dismal, the worst thing happened. TEE stood first and we last. Our jaws fell. Disappointed again! We had lost the sports trophy.

Suddenly shouts of foul fell to my ears. I turned around to see that it was Rohit who was claiming a justified foul that the TEE guy ran in his lane blocking him! This was again confirmed by the referees and other volunteers present to monitor the race. Voila!! Things took a 360 degree turn. TEE disqualified and we now had a healthy lead of 24 points. And the Sports Trophy was ours. A nostalgic moment. This again got strengthened when we won the tug-o-war. "Computers" was the roar that lit up the whole ground. BECA was finally jumping and were on their feet literally. Eyes filled up with joy. Worn out faces finally brightened up. I was fortunate to be present at the defining moment.