Chance to Change !

What is common thing about Google Search, Yahoo ! and Facebook ? Besides the fact that they all have revolutionised the internet, all of them were college projects of their creators.* This truly tell you the importance of a college project project. For most of the students the finale year project is the biggest project of their college life hence this post is directed towards the finale year projects. However  it is equally valid for all engineering projects.

Your finale year project is one chance to change the world. But then what should be your finale year project ? How do you go about it ? Here are few points:

1. Create stuff that Amazes you.

You need to remember that at the end of the day the project is your baby. It has to be something that you would love to show off. It has to be something that will be proud of. Create stuff that you will be startled looking at. The best project is when you create something that others thought was impossible and still you managed to create it. And even if you are not able to get the final output I am sure you will be satisfied be your work.

2. What an Idea !

The Idea is the Heart of the project. The reason why Facebook is a big hit is not because it has some complex technology but because it is based on an amazing Idea of connecting people. The features of status updates, Like, Comment etc are part of an amazing Idea called Facebook. The part of developing the Idea of the project is one of the best part of the final year project however not many people spend enough time on it. Many times the ideas is just picked up from the net or students ask the faculty for their Idea. This should be strictly avoided. Do not refer to other sources for the Ideas of the project. The Idea should be yours. It should be a creation of your mind. The Idea of the project is the central theme of your project. Sometimes it takes even a year for a good Idea to develop and it undergoes a major changes with time. e.g. in case of my project we started an Idea of creating a GPS controlled car and ended creating an Internet controlled Robot. The finale idea, though absolutely different from the starting Idea, did evolve from the original one. This process of evolution of Idea is the most exciting one. Come up with an Idea, Check its FEASIBILITY, See if someone else has already created it, check how you can go about . Spend time and your Idea will metamorphose from a cartpiler into a beautiful butterfly.

3. Keep it Simple

Which is a bigger invention ? A bipedal robot or a stapler ? I feel a stapler is more important as it has influenced my life a lot more then a Bipedal Robot. A stapler is such a simple devise yet so awesome. I am sure you use it frequently in your life (People who take lots of supplements during exams are eternally grateful to this devise :-)). What makes it so great is the simplicity. Simple to create yet so revolutionary. Remember the simple things influence our life a lot more. So keep your project simple on technology and focus on application.This will also ensure the feasibility as well as will help in keeping the costs low. The project should be simple to create but should have profound impact on human life just like the ‘'simple machines’.

4. Focus on Application.

To have a great impact your focus of project should be on application. By application I mean what the project is providing/giving you. e.g The Application of a bed mattress is to provide comfort while sleeping. The application should come first then the simplest possible technology to achieve this application should be used. However most of the student follow exactly the opposite process. They pick up the technology and then somehow try to fit it into some application. I am sure all (almost all :-) ) the computer engineering students will be able to create a website to update a database entry when a button is clicked. However its the right application of this simple technology created the awesome ‘Like button’ on Facebook. Remember that if your project becomes available for the general public to use (and this has to be your final aim) then the public is going to choose to use it based on the application not on the technology used.

5. Create something that YOU would use.

Forget if others like your creation or not. Don't think if others will use it or not. Make a point to create something that you will not only like but also you would love to use. Create something that has capability to become part of YOUR life. After all this is your ‘chance to change’ the world and most importantly change YOUR own world.

6. Be the Donkey !

When I was a kid I was told a story of a Donkey who praised his own tail. I was taught that this Donkey was stupid. During my visit to IISC –Bangalore while speaking to Prof. Murthy I told him about how we got coverage for our project in various local media. He replied “So why did you do all this promotion of your project? Isn't it for publicity ?”. We dint knew what to answer. After all we were always taught that self publicity is bad thing to do. But then he went on to explain why all the self publicity of the project was the best thing that we did. When you have worked hard and created. the world will not come to know on its own so it is very important that we tell the whole world about it. You have to shout out about your awesomeness. This a very important change in culture we need to bring in India if we want the world to recognise our technology. If you keep quite someone else will claim it as his own. Apple products are great not just because of its design and technology but also because Steve Jobs stands on the stage at Macworld WWDC and tells the whole world how awesome, revolutionary, unprecedented, great, unbelievable etc etc their products are. Promote, Publicise because you deserve it. Remember the Donkey wasn't stupid, he was the smartest.

7. Do what you love.

The most important factor in selecting the project is to work with a technology that love to work with. By the time we reach in the final year of Engineering we all have some favourite technology, Technology we are sure we can spend hours on. For me it was Robotics and Internet hence I worked on a combination of the two.

To sum it up there is a beautiful Steve Jobs Quote which says

“ You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Note for Engicos : The Project is something that should absolutely NOT done for marks. After all everyone ends up getting similar marks in the project. You have nothing to lose so go ahead and create...

* Facts confirmed from http://www.fortystones.com/college-ideas-that-changed-the-world/

Gtalk Tips and Tricks

Run Multiple Accounts In Google Talk Simultaneously

Google Talk does not provide option to login to multiple accounts by default. If you have several Gmail accounts that you want to login in Google talk, follow this procedure.

1. Right click on desktop. Select NEW and then SHORTCUT

2. Paste this into text box “c:\program files\google\google talk\googletalk.exe” /nomutex”
3. Click NEXT and name it Google Talk Multiple (or whatever).
4. Click OK until you are done
Use this new shortcut on your desktop to login to multiple accounts in Google Talk simultaneously.

Make the text bold, italic and underline in Google Talk

Yes you can do basic formatting with text in GTalk. There is no formatting panel or visible button to do so but you can easily write bold, italic and underline text. If you want to type a sentence or some word in bold, just add a * before and after that text so *ppv999* will give you ppv999. To make text italic, enclose the text in _underscores_.

Create contact shortcut on desktop

You can create a shortcut on your desktop to chat or call any friend. You can click this shortcut anytime to chat with your friend or call them. For example if you want to make a shortcut for ppv999@gmail.com, right click on your desktop and go to New > Shortcut and type gtalk:chat?jid=ppv999@gmail.com for text chatting or gtalk:call?jid=ppv999@gmail.com for call.

Write Paragraphs in Gtalk

If you want to write a message that spans multiple paragraphs, hold shift and hit enter to start a new paragraph. It will move cursor to new line.

Change the font size in Google Talk

Hold the control key and move mouse wheel up or down for adjusting the text size to your liking. This trick works on write and read areas.

Show Hyper links in Gtalk

You can show your website or blog by simply writing the URL in away message (at the top of main window). It will turn it in a clickable and invisible link to others.

Know calorie count of food items in Gtalk

You can know calorie count of food items using Gtalk. Add calories@lifemojo.com in your Google Talk (click add button and enter calories@lifemojo.com) and then send food name as message to know about calories in that item. Send messages like: rice to know about calories in rice.

Use Gtalk as free website live chat client

Place Gtalk button on your site and visitors can contact you using it. You can create your Google Talk badge here.

Is a Google Talk contact Invisible?

Yes there is a glitch in Google Talk’s invisible status and we can take advantage of it to know if a user is really offline or in invisible status to avoid you. Follow these steps to find out.
1. Select the chat as off the record with the target user (Google tells you HOW). This can only be done if the target user is online.
2. Now try sending chat to the target contact.
3. If the contact is invisible, he/she will receive the chat. In case if they are offline, you will get an error message like “ did not receive your chat”.
This is simple tip to checkout if a user is invisible on Gtalk.

Use Google Talk With Twitter

Invite twitter@twitter.com to your friends list in Gtalk and verify your account. Whenever you IM this account, the message will automatically publish on your twitter account.