It might be a good idea to read all these comments through before you begin, especially if your heat sink isn’t doing its job. And do not turn on the computer without a properly attached heatsink!

USE THE INFORMATION AND DIRECTIONS ON THIS PAGE AT YOUR OWN RISK. I DO NOT WARRANT THIS INFORMATION AND WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR THE OUTCOMES OF USING THIS INFORMATION.

The Procedure:

You will basically work into the inside through the keyboard side. I did this on a N5430 but it should be the same for the XE3. NOTE that the order of the procedure might be different for an XE3, so use common sense to figure it out. This is a historical account of what I did. Also, most parts are attached by cables that it is important for you to not pull on. There will always be another method to release the cable that does not involving pulling on the cable. Notice how all the cables fit together nice and flat, you need to put them back this way later.

1. Remove all the screws (something like 12) you can visibly access, these will be on the bottom and rear panel. Make sure you keep track of what screws came from where, you will have about 40 screws once youve gone through all the steps. (A note about the N3xxx series: “there turned out to be *one* screw underneath one of the rubber feet!” –Jeff) (and about a ze41xx: “a row of 5 screws underneath the laptop on the front edge that are hidden under rubber plugs” –Rob)

2. Set the laptop rightside-up. Remove the 2 screws from the back of the two screen hinges if you didn’t already. Then open the screen 180 degrees and support it with something so that when we detach it, it will stay put.

3. Plastic above keyboard. Insert a small flat-bladed screwdriver underneath the top of the screen hinge cover plastic, and pry the plastic up a bit from both hinges (see the drawn picture below). You will be removing the plastic piece that has the power switch and status lights and such, above the keyboard. Now that you have gotten it to come up a little bit, you just need to keep pulling on those hinges (and not on the front side, even though it is very tempting to do so. It took me forever to get this piece off but it turns out it has some lips along the front side so you need to angle it out from the back. I thought it would break off but it finally came off OK).

4. Keyboard. Four screws hold the keyboard, unscrew those, remove and unplug the keyboard.

4.5. DVD drive I didn’t need to remove this at all, but “Doug” wrote to me saying that if you are replacing your DVD drive, you just need to remove the screw from the one corner of the hard drive where it is attached, and then you can go ahead and do the replacement without disassembling anything else. BTW, he has a N5290.

5. Circuitry for that status cover. Two screws hold the circuitry for that

status cover from #3, remove them and then lift from the left side. You can leave it connected to the display if you want.

6. Display. Disconnect the display cable from the video circuit. Don’t mess up those DIP switches, they are set for the model of your LCD. Now unscrew the 4 screws that support the display, and set the display to the side. I dont think that the display comes apart any further.

7. Top casing. Unscrew the 6 screws holding the top casing on. Two are toward where the bottom of the keyboard, the other 4 are at the top. There is a plastic clip near the network and phone jacks that you may need to unlatch. There is a cable running to the CD player panel, underneath and attached to this case. To disconnect, lift the upper plastic on the connector on the mainboard, and then the ribbon cable will be released. To reconnect, lift the plastic again, insert the cable, then lock the plastic down again.

8. Hard drive. Unscrew the 4 hard drive mounting screws (they are attached to the mount and wont come out all the way), and then use the fabric handle to remove the drive.

9. The metal bracket around the outside. There is one screw along the left and one along the right to remove. The center one is optional for you to remove, because I don’t think you need to. (It will separate the bracket into two pieces if you remove the center one.) Note that the bracket has a latch that you need to unlatch next to the network jack. (I think you will need to get to this step in order to fully access the top of the AC adapter plug.)

10. The heatsink. (By the way, NEVER turn on the computer without the heatsink properly attached!!) Note that if you remove this you will need a new thermal pad or new thermal

compound (old wont work). You can find out how to apply these sorts of things from other sites on the internet. It is very important to get this right because your chip will fry itself otherwise. So anyhow, there are 4 main screws. They will have attached springs (Something to do with sustaining an even pressure between processor and heatsink.) These 4 are numbered, remove and reinstall in that order. There might be other obvious things needing unscrewing, I had to remove two other screws that seemed to be for aligning the heatsink prior to reattachment.

Note (from Gene James): When reinstalling the heat sink, the key requirement is successively tightening the 4 screws by degrees. So one should turn each a turn in the order of the numbers until they “resist” and then tighten them alternately by slight increases in torque until they are a tight “thumb tight.” This allows the heat sink to settle evenly on the chip. If one tightens one screw first, a large load will be applied to edge of the chip and possibly crack it. I note that the fan is thermostatically controlled to conserve power. One shouldn’t panic if it stops and restarts frequently.

Thats it! (Unless you want to figure out how to remove some more parts…) The laptop I was working on had a problem overheating; when I removed the heatsink I found gobs of dust inside the fan assembly. Using tons of canned air I was able to clean it. I am now looking for some sort of external air filter to prevent recurrence

I can be contacted by emailing “greg (at) cif . rochester . e d u”.

Display Disassembly (contributed by Ken Winstrand)

To disassemble the display:

Start with the notebook open 180 degrees as in Figure 1, but with the status panel removed (it isn’t [removed yet] in the picture).

1. Remove the rubber plugs that cover the display screws (Figure 2). Near each corner of the display there is a rubber plug that covers a screw. To remove those plugs, I used a small screwdriver and a paper clip with the end bent at ninety degrees to make a hook. Push down on the plug with the screwdriver, which opens up a gap on the side of the plug, and use the hook to pop the plug out.

2. Remove the four silver screws that hold the display in place.

3. Open the sides of the plastic shell that holds the display (Figures 3 and 4).

4. Lift up the plastic on the lower left hand corner and begin to work your way around the edges. You may want to slowly slide a small screwdriver along the crevice to help locate the plastic clips that hold the two halves of the plastic shell together. When you find one of these, just twist the screwdriver or put some inward pressure on the clip

while lifting the plastic.

NOTE: When you reach the sliding release lever at the top of the display, you’ll see that it also helps to hold the shell together. Ignore this for now and repeat step 3 starting from the lower right hand corner.

5. Open the bottom side of the shell. At this point the sides of the shell are open, but the top and bottom are still held together. To open the bottom place your fingers on the plastic edge above the logo and pull toward you. The plastic will pop

open, and now the only thing holding the shell together is the slider at the top.

If you’re just looking to check/change the display cable, you can stop right here. Disassembly beyond this point is possible, as you will see below, but if you go past step 6 reassembly is a PITA.

6. Free the top of the plastic shell from the latching system (Figure 4). Lift the cover from the bottom so that it hinges on the top edge. Pull the slider back so that the latching hook doesn’t hold the cover on. Be gentle and don’t bend the slider or stress the plastic too much, but a fair amount of lifting force is needed before the top piece snaps off.

Reassembly Tip: When putting the top half of the plastic back on later, start with the top standing straight up and inserted below the plastic slider (Figure 5). Pull the slider half-way back so the hook will go into the slot, and begin to lower the top into place. This may take

some fancy fingerwork. Eventually you’ll get this assembly to snap back together, just make sure all the parts are lined up and try not to put too much stress on the hook.

———-

I didn’t take it apart any further than that, but you could. Just disconnect the wiring and remove the screws that hold the LCD in at the bottom. To disconnect the wiring, you’d need to have the status panel circuitry and possibly the keyboard or top of the unit off, and I didn’t have the time or the need to go that far. I just wanted to check the wiring to see if it was worn out because the display is flickering. In my case, the display flickers because opening and closing the lid causes the LCD to twist, which obviously isn’t good for it. HP probably should have used more metal in the top half of the shell to keep it

from twisting like that and wrecking the display.

The silver set of display data wires or bus (as opposed to the black wires feeding the step-up transformer for the illumination) is very fragile. Display anomalies (displaying black screen as green with fringes) could be made to disappear by squeezing one part of the bus between my fingertips. Repeatedly doing this also made the fatigue related disorder worse. The only fix is to replace the display bus.

Blogged with Flock

SANDS OF TIME

Passing through India en route to Azad, King Sharaman and his son, the Prince of Persia, defeat the powerful Maharajah of India with the promise of honor and glory. After looting the city and capturing a giant hourglass full of sand, a mysterious dagger, and the Maharajah’s daughter along with other treasures, they continue to Azad. A dying Vizier, who had betrayed the Maharajah and aided King Sharaman in return for a share of the spoils, demands to have the dagger, as he was promised his choice of the Maharajah’s treasures. But Sharaman refuses to take the dagger from his son, who captured it first. So the Vizier, who wishes to harness the power of the sands in the hourglass for himself, making him an immortal god and giving him control over time itself, tricks the Prince into opening the hourglass. When the Prince uses the dagger to unleash the Sands of Time from the hourglass, it destroys the kingdom and turns its populace into savage demons. Only the Prince, the Vizier, and Princess Farah, the kidnapped daughter of the Maharajah, remain unchanged due to their possessions; the Prince’s dagger, the Vizier’s staff, and Farah’s medallion.

On a journey to repair the damage he has caused, the Prince teams with Farah to return the Sands of Time to the hourglass by using the Dagger of Time, which also gives the Prince limited control over the flow of time. Before they reach their destination, the Prince and Farah form a romantic relationship. However, the Prince knows that Farah has every reason to hate him for conquering her people, and he suspects that Farah plans to steal the Dagger of Time from him. While the Prince sleeps, Farah does at a later time take the dagger, as well as his sword, and attempts to return the sands to the hourglass herself, leaving only her medallion behind with the Prince. When the Prince catches up with her, she is being attacked by sand creatures, and falls through the ceiling of the hourglass chamber atop the Tower of Dawn before the Prince can save her.

Afterwards, the Prince uses the dagger to return the sands to the hourglass, and the timeline reverts to the point prior to the battle against the Maharajah. As a result, the relationship between Farah and himself is a memory that only he possesses. However, the Prince still has the dagger in his possession, even in the past. He goes to find Farah, to warn her of the Vizier’s treachery before the sands are released, and to give her the Dagger of Time. But as the Prince shares his epic story with her, he is confronted by the evil Vizier, who still yearns for the dagger, and eternal life. After defeating the Vizier, and preventing the opening of the hourglass, the Prince gives the Dagger of Time to Farah, and leaves.

THE WARRIOR WITHIN

Seven years after the Prince used the Sands of Time to turn back time and rewrite history, he finds himself hunted by the Dahaka, the Guardian of the Timeline. Because the Prince escaped his fate, the Dahaka is sent to ensure that the Prince dies and thus restore order to the Timeline.

Seeking council from an old wise man, the Prince learns of the existence of the Island of Time – birthplace of the Sands of Time, governed by the Empress of Time. Thinking only of himself and his survival, the Prince sets sail for the Island to prevent the Sands of Time from ever being created. His belief is that if the Sands are not created then there cannot be a Dahaka.

Many obstacles attempt to prevent the Prince from reaching the Island and his goal. First, his ship is attacked by an army led by a mysterious woman in black named Shahdee. The Prince faces her and during the ensuing combat she manages to throw him overboard; his ship sinks and his entire crew perishes; however, the Prince manages to survive and drifts ashore on the Island.

Wandering further into the island, he re-encounters Shahdee, whom he pursues deep into the fortress of the Island. By doing so, he accidentally steps into one of the many Portals of the fortress, which connects the present with the past. Continuing his pursuit into the Past, he finds her trying to murder an unknown woman in red named Kaileena. The Prince engages Shahdee once more in battle, kills her, and saves Kaileena.

Denied an audience with the Empress of Time to state his case, the Prince is then faced with the task of activating two towers, which in time will open the doors to the Empress’ Throne Room. Kaileena aids the Prince by presenting to him the Serpent Sword, which will activate the bridges to reach both towers, and eventually the Lion Sword, an even more powerful weapon than the Serpent Sword. As the Prince explores the island, he occasionally encounters a mysterious, dark-looking creature. Shortly before reaching the throne room, the Prince is attacked by the Dahaka and almost killed, but the dark creature rushes in and sacrifices itself to save him. The Prince eventually succeeds in reaching the Throne Room only to discover that Kaileena is the Empress of Time. She had sent Shahdee to kill the Prince, sent him on the perilous journey to the towers, and even cursed the Lion Sword – yet the Prince did not die.

Kaileena is also trying to defy her fate. She has seen hers in the Timeline, which is to die at the hands of the Prince. Therefore, her only concern is to get rid of him at any cost. Shahdee, feeling that her mission to help save Kaileena was foolish, illogical, and futile, had turned against her only to be killed by the Prince.

The Prince reluctantly fights and kills Kaileena. He returns to the present, hoping that he has escaped his fate, but soon discovers that when he killed Kaileena, the Sands of Time were spawned from her body. Realising that he has caused the event he intended to prevent, the Prince begins to lose hope, but soon discovers the Mask of the Wraith, which is said to have the power to defy fate. When he puts on the mask, he transforms into the Sand Wraith, the dark creature he saw earlier. The time portals have a greater effect on him in this state, causing him to relive the events of the past as the Wraith (and see his encounters with the Wraith from the opposite perspective). When he reaches the point at which the Wraith saved the Prince from the Dahaka, he instead lets the Dahaka kill the “other” Prince, causing the mask to fall off and him to return to the position he was in just before he entered the Throne Room.

The Prince decides that he may he not be able to avoid killing Kaileena, but if he kills her in the present rather than the past, the Sands will not be created until after he had used them, thereby escaping his fate. The Prince confronts Kaileena again and forces her through a time portal into the present. At this point the ending forks, depending on whether or not the Prince has found all of the health upgrades and acquired his ultimate weapon, the Water Sword.

Without the Water Sword (Alternate Ending): The Prince and Kaileena fight again. After the fight, the Dahaka appears, but ignores the Prince and kills Kaileena (since she is now the one who is out of place in the timeline). The Dahaka then heads for the Prince, but only to take his Time Medallion. Having escaped his fate, the Prince sets sail for Babylon.

With the Water Sword (True Ending): The Dahaka appears and heads for Kaileena (since she is now the one who is out of place in the timeline). However, the Prince discovers that the Dahaka has a weakness to his Water Sword. The Prince and Kaileena fight the Dahaka together and manage to defeat it. Having both escaped their fates, the Prince and Kaileena set sail for Babylon together. (This is the ending that fits with the sequel.)

THE TWO THRONES

The Two Thrones follows the ending of Warrior Within in which the Prince kills the Dahaka and successfully alters Kaileena’s (The Empress of Time) fate. While on a ship en route to his home city of Babylon, the Prince tosses the magical medallion overboard, as he no longer needs it. Promising Kaileena that no harm would come to her in Babylon, upon returning he is horrified to learn that his city has been ravaged by war. Additionally, his ship is attacked which results in both the Prince and Kaileena being thrown overboard, although Kaileena is taken prisoner after drifting ashore.

After fighting his way through the city to find her, the Prince realizes that as a result of his efforts on the Island of Time to prevent the Sands of Time from being created that the events of the original game never happened, and The Vizier was never killed. Worse, he now possesses the empty hourglass, the Dagger of Time, and the magical staff. The Vizier is now in search of the Sands of Time, and has captured the Empress of Time to get them. Just as the Prince finds Kaileena, the Vizier kills her, and unleashes the Sands of Time, which strike and mutate the Vizier’s lieutenants into hideous sand monsters. Then, by impaling himself with the dagger, the Vizier transforms into a terrifying immortal winged creature. The Prince is also struck by the sands of time, although the effects on him are not revealed until later in the story. The unleashed sands of time cause the Palace to fall apart and collapse. The Prince falls as the floors collapse around him, but not before stealing the Dagger of Time.

Later, The Prince finds that the sands of time have split him into two personalities: his usual self, which although flawed strives to be good and noble; and the “Dark Prince” who represents the more cruel, avaricious, and arrogant aspects of his psyche, and is manifested as a bitter and cynical inner voice. Whenever the Dark Prince is dominant – in the absence of water, and when he is able to feed on the Prince’s fear and anger – the Prince assumes his dark, corrupted form, although his mind remains intact. In his natural state, the corruption of the sands is limited to a glowing sore on his wounded left arm (where the sands had fused a razor-sharp chain weapon known as the Daggertail into his flesh), although the Prince is alarmed to discover that the sore spreads further with each metamorphosis into the Dark Prince.

Meanwhile, the Vizier has transformed his army (and even some of the population of Babylon) into sand monsters. While searching for a way to defeat the Vizier, the Prince once again encounters Farah, who does not remember him, and is surprised that the Prince knows her name- as a result of all the Prince’s time-travelling, the events of the first game (including the ending in which the Prince fought the Vizier in Farah’s bedroom) never happened. Although initially wary of the Prince, she agrees to help him defeat the Vizier.

As they travel together, the Prince continues to endure the inner struggle between his noble aspirations (which resonate with the brave and compassionate Farah) and the Dark Prince, whose voice is a constant reminder of the Prince’s darker tendencies. The Prince’s growing affection for Farah compels him to embrace a more selfless perspective, beginning with concern for Farah and developing into compassion for his downtrodden people. As this begins to happen, he realizes that the Dark Prince, who claims to be part of him, is in fact a sand monster, who is vying for control of the Prince and his kingdom. A particularly heroic and selfless deed proves a turning point in his mission, as his heroism inspires a new hope in the populace. Their spirits lifted by the knowledge that their Prince fought to save them from the Vizier, they rise up in defiance of his army so that their Hero might stand a better chance. This provided enough of a diversion for the Prince and Farah to get through the horde of sand warriors guarding the palace.

As they approach the throne room, however, they are ambushed by the Vizier. He captures Farah and sends the Prince plummeting deep into a dry well, only to survive by transforming into the Dark Prince. As he goes further into the well, the Dark Prince’s voice grows stronger and more hostile, fuelled by the lack of water and the Prince’s desperation. He eventually comes across a dark room to find his father’s lifeless form lying on the ground. Overcome with grief, taunted by the Dark Prince – “What now? Perform another Grand Rewind? Or perhaps go back to the Island and return to a time when he might be saved, maybe, rescue a damsel in distress along the way?” – the Prince recognises his own childishness, the immaturity underlying his constant efforts to undo his mistakes. He resolves never to walk down that path again, that he would accept the consequences of his actions. With this resolution, he silences the Dark Prince and reverts to his natural form – without water. Taking up his father’s sword he makes his way up the tower to complete his mission.

Using the Dagger of Time and his father’s sword, the Prince is able to defeat the Vizier and free Farah. With the Vizier’s death, his army vanishes and Kaileena’s soul is freed from his grotesque form. She thanks the Prince by cleansing him of his corruption and removing the daggertail, before leaving this world for another that more suited to her presence. However, as the Prince leans down to reach for his father’s crown, he is confronted by the form of a dark warrior who says to him, “All that is yours is rightfully mine, and mine it will be”, as prophesied at the end of Warrior Within. Before the Prince’s eyes, the dark warrior metamorphoses into the Dark Prince, who swings his Daggertail and draws the Prince into the mental realm where the two battle for control. With some help from the voice of Farah – “This place reeks of sadness and cruel intentions” – the Prince realises that battling his inner demon only serves to feed it, and to trap himself within its realm. In the end he turns away and follows the voice of Farah. Starved of anger, greed, and pride, the Dark Prince is finally defeated.

Veterans of The Sands of Time are treated to a tribute and reference to the first game in the trilogy. When Farah asks The Prince how he really knew her name, he begins to tell her the story of the first game, using the same monologue as the introduction and ending of that game, bringing the Sands of Time trilogy full circle: “Most people think time is like a river, that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you, they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I really am and why I say this. Come, and I will tell you a tale like none you have ever heard… “

Blogged with Flock

What a game this has been. Went right down to the wire. Can’t ask for more from a grand final. The crowd erupts as the Indian support staff, coaching staff and remaining squad members charge onto the field.

The Indian players do a lap of honour as the Indian flags in the stands are waved. The players go towards the stands and pick up a couple of flags … almost every one has a flag now as they do a lap around the ground.

The celebrations are still on as the Indians run around on the outfield. Disappointment for Pakistan but they’ve put in a real good show here. Misbah held his cool till the end, only making one mistake, trying to be a bit too cute in the end.

The organisers bring the trophy out onto the field as the Indians and Pakistanis congratulate each other. A brief moment of calm and the Indians are again celebrating on the outfield. Dhoni gives his shirt away to a young fan and is walking around bare-chested as Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, comes around to offer his congratulations.

Stay with us and we’ll bring you the post-match presentations just as soon as they get under way.

The players now make their way out to the middle from the dug-outs as it’s time for the post-match presentation ceremony to begin. The Pakistanis are disappointed, desperately so, you can see it on their faces, and the Indians are elated.

The victors and the vanquished congratulate each other. Both teams were unfancied as the tournament began. Now they’ve played out a dramatic final where India’s just about come out on top …

The presentation begins and it is the match officials who come up first to collect their medallions – the umpires and the match referees.

The Pakistani players then come on stage, in alphabetical order, to receive their medals.

Shoaib Malik “First of all I’d like to thank people back home and the Muslims around the world. We gave our 100%,” he says. “India have a strong batting line-up. We did well to restrict them to less than 160 but our batting didn’t come through. The Indians bowled really well and we played some bad shots. That’s why we ended up on the losing side in this game.”

The Man of the Match award goes to Irfan Pathan who says: “It’s a great comeback for me. I held my nerve and bowled in the right areas. The pitch was a bit on the slower side. It gripped a bit when I bowled slower balls. I tried to mix up the pace and keep things tight. In the end it could have gone any way. The bowlers all did really well when Misbah was batting well. We played as a team and we won.”

The Player of the Tournament award goes to Shahid Afridi who says: “Winning and losing is part of it. But we played really good cricket. Congratulations to the Indian captain and the whole team. I struggled a bit with my batting but I concentrated on my bowling.”

Mahendra Singh Dhoni “It’s one of the things I will treasure for the rest of my life. I’d like to congratulate the boys and thank them for the response they have given me. No-one expected us to win and the way we played today we deserve a big celebration. Pakistan bowled really well today in the second half. But we knew we had runs on the board and we could bring some pressure on the batsmen. Bhajji was not 100% sure of getting yorkers in the death. I thought I should throw the ball to someone who really wants to well in international cricket. Jogi did a really good job.”

The fireworks go off and the Indians celebrate wildly on the podium. New has just come in that the Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced a bonus of US$ 2 million for the team and a bonus of Rs 1 crore to Yuvraj Singh for his achievement of hitting six sixes in one over.

Everytime, I see the movie ‘Butterfly Effect’ , how I wish if I could spin back time and start it all over again. The changes I would have created so that I can call my nightmare’s dreams !!!! But I am happy the way everything is going, although my entire is mounted with failures and tear’s of regrets…It’s surprising that I am still surviving, which makes me feel I have a greater purpose left….i believe I have potential’s beyond my imagination. I like to make that that one day.

Blogged with Flock

In a fantasy world, I could write about picking up a supermodel in a Camaro,
having a meal at a five-star restaurant, taking a private jet to Paris,
cracking a bottle of champagne and watching the sunset on top of a mountain.
But in a real world, there really is no such thing as a perfect date.
Well, at least not one that you can plan.

In order for an evening to be perfect, only one thing needs to happen:
you need to be with the right person. You could have the perfect date
just taking a walk around town if you’re with someone you truly have
feelings for.

if you’re with someone who you connect with, that’s what makes an
evening great, possibly even perfect. You can’t plan it and say,
"this is going to be perfect" before it even happens. It just ends
up that way. You could probably plan the worst date ever
(do stupid things like fall down and take your date down with you,
pretend to forget your wallet so she has to pay, spit your wrapper
at the waitress, and other immature stuff) but not the best.

The same holds true for the perfect first date. More likely than not,
you are not going to have the perfect first date with someone if you’re "on the rebound." In that case, you’re just getting over your ex and many
times are just going out with somebody else to forget about it. Again,
you can’t plan it. It just has to happen.

I also don’t think the perfect first date could be a blind date, but I fully
admit to being biased against those, so maybe it’s possible. I don’t know.It doesn’t matter if you are with a 10 or 4 on the hotness scale, all that matters
is making an intellectual connection and having fun; being happy at the end of the night.
Everyone has met someone extremely attractive but the person’s personality makes him/her
look bad. And everyone has met a person with not-so-great looks

but personality makes up for it,
and the person becomes more attractive because of what’s inside.

The placement training program was worth it. I persumed it would be another boring session with tons of reading and writing. but on the flip side it turned out to be really good. Although Ramya madam periods were a bit sluggish and went at a rapid pace. Mythale madam rocked to the core espec. the GD and the interviewing programs. i am glad our clollege organises such program in the midile of of all all those rules and regulation….waithing for more sessions in de the next sem !!!!

Blogged with Flock

I was shocked to see yestherday’s paper. Sanjay Dutt has been found guilty !!!!
Sanjay Dutt was sentenced to 6 years rigorous imprisonment on 31 July 2007 by judge P.D.Kode. The media reported that Sanjay Dutt’s arrest put Rs. 1.5 billion of Bollywood business at stake.

Sanjay Dutt was also fined Rs. 25,000 and his probation plea was rejected. The actor, who had hoped to be freed under the Probation of Offenders Act, said with folded hands: “Sir, I made a mistake 14 years ago. Please give me some time to surrender.” But the judge rejected the plea. “Act till the age of 100, I have only taken away six years,” the judge said, even adding that he had liked the actor’s performances in films. Sanjay Dutt’s lawyer, Mr Satish Maneshinde, said the actor would appeal against his sentence in the Supreme Court. “We will appeal against the order in the Supreme Court… He has accepted it with a heavy heart,”

With limited number of days in hand before his bail ends, Sanjay has to wind up all his pending projects and his family matters. But, was Sanjay Dutt given the apt verdict? Was he really innocent in the conspiracy of serial blasts? Why time and again his name crops up with the underworld? What will happens to the numerous film projects undertaken by him which are yet not complete? Such questions and many more spring up as we begin the countdown of Sanjay’s remaining days outside the prison; not long before until he is put behind the bars. Surely, at this moment, our Munna Bhai is missing his dad, late Sunil Dutt’s Jaadu Ki Jhappi. Let’s see what else we can expect from this highly crucial case for the film industry, keeping in mind with Munna Bhai flicks, Sanju is at the peak of his career.

Fire Fox : reliable one

Any browser that was to successfully challenge IE6’s market dominance would have to be far and away the best browser on offer. The Mozilla suite, on which Navigator 6 was based, is excellent but aimed at developers and unwieldy for most user’s needs. The web needed a browser that was fast, lightweight, and did everything IE does, but better. That browser is Firefox.

It is the safest browser available, as it doesn’t contain many of the more obvious vulnerabilities that IE has, such as ActiveX components . Firefox is still under very active development by a huge community of volunteer coders, many of whom worked at Netscape in its heyday. If a vulnerability is found, it is corrected and an update made available in days, sometimes hours. This means Firefox cannot fall into the same trap that IE did — receiving no updates for years and having its various security holes get exploited by thousands of hackers and virus writers.

All that is obviously really great, but the things that you’ll notice first about Firefox are features like » tabbed browsing which reduces your desktop clutter by keeping all of your open webpages within one Firefox window. Firefox was also the first browser to offer popup blocking by default.

Internet Explorer 7 : for microsoft addicts

After a long hiatus after Internet Explorer 6 was released, Microsoft finally got shunted out of complacence in the browser market by the threat posed by new upstart browsers like Firefox and Safari. IE7 is a great improvement over its predecessor, with much improved standards support. It has also caught up on the other browsers in terms of features like tabbed browsing and intelligent popup blocking. Firefox is still my favourite browser, but IE7 ain’t half bad.

Flock : for bloggers and photo uploaders a.ka. my type of browser

The latest version of Flock launched last week and I thought I’d give it a whirl. I heard the developers discussing the photo uploader on the TalkCrunch podcast and it sounded interesting so I have been playing with that particularly (see screenshot below).

The Flock photo uploader is fantastic! There’s no other word for it. It is simplicity itself – drag an image to the photo topbar and the uploader opens ready to upload the image.

I was previously using a plugin for iPhoto to upload my images to my Flickr account but it was very clunky. It frequently hung in the middle of image uploading and there was no way to associate photos with a Flickr set. That had to be done manually after uploading. This is all a thing of the past thanks to the Flock uploader.

As well as uploading to Flickr the Flock uploader allows you to upload to PhotoBucket. Now if only they’d implement uploading to Zooomr, I’d be able to upload to my Zoomr account from within Flock as well!

technorati tags:flock, ie7, shibu

click here to read the entite book within 13min

:	On the July 4th holiday, an attack on the vulnerable United States infrastructure begins to shut down the entire nation. The mysterious figure behind the scheme has figured out every modern angle — but he never figured on an old-school “analog” fly in the “digital” ointment: John McClane. No mask. No cape. No problem.
Running Time:	2 hr. 10 min.
Release Date:	June 27th, 2007 (wide)
MPAA Rating:	PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, language and a brief sexual situation.
Distributors:	20th Century Fox Distribution
U.S. Box Office:	$116,267,866

technorati tags:die, hard