I just took my gaming to the next level with the MX518 Optical Gaming Mouse by Logitech. I don’t know why but i have always been into Logitech mice since long. It’s hard to trust anyone else as i personally believe Logitech is the best in this special area. Besides, i have had my own agendas with another popular brand which i cannot name probably because of brand copyright issues.

In the past, i had never given any importance to mouse device whatsoever. I have always bought the ordinary simple Logitech Optical Mouse PS/2. That’s the simplest branded mouse available in market. Anyways, the way i use these mice, none has a lifespan of more than 6 months, whatsoever. So this time i decided to get something better. Something mean. Something more elegant…. So i checked up Logitech’s website and found some 3 or 4 great mice. My favorite one was a Logitech G5 Laser Mouse but i guess it wasn’t available. So i ended up selecting Logitech MX518 Mouse.

I have been using this mouse for a while now. And yes, it’s lot more comfortable, lot elegant and really comfortable. I can honestly feel the difference compared to any other conventional mice. I can feel it in my hand and in my game. Okay, these are wordings from the MX518 Mouse Box…but i feel the same way, so i don’t mind repeating these wordings.

The Logitech official website for some unknown weird reason says that MX518 has a 1600-dpi MX™ Optical Engine, whereas, in reality it has 1800-dpi MX™ Optical Engine. This actually helps in ultra-high resolution and pixel-precise tracking, so i don’t mind the extra 200 dpi coming in… It’s all good. It has a 8 button design which is all programmable, so this way i take full control of what all my mice can do. These 8 buttons include the two thumb buttons and the scroll wheel. You can see the following pics i just took for the rest of buttons location and integration.

As for the shape of the mouse, it looks pretty cool. It’s lightweight and dome shaped that really fits in precisely in my hand. Such shape supports the hand, helping to reduce discomfort during long gaming/work sessions. And the movement of the mouse on my table is really smooth compared to the other mice i had. It’s because of some ultra-slick polytetrafluoroethylene feet. I really have no idea what that means however i can break it up into Poly-Tetra-Fluoro-Ethylene.

I think i should mention the adjustable sensitivity of this mouse. I can shift from pixel-precise targeting to high-G maneuvers, without pausing the action. I can crank the tracking engine up as high as 1800 dpi for quick movements and fast turns. Or i can go as low as 400 dpi for more accuracy and precision aiming. All this can be done from the easily accessible dpi switching buttons that you can see just above and below the scroll wheel. So now i can adjust sensitivity on the fly!

Time for some non-professional pictures of Logitech MX518 Optical Gaming Mouse:

Alright some people wouldn’t care about the whole review that i have written. For them here is a complete Specifications list of MX518:

Tracking:

Resolution : 1800 dpi
Image Processing: 5.8 megapixels/second
Maximum Acceleration: 15G
Maximum Speed: 40 inches/second

Responsiveness:

USB Data Format : 16 bit/axis
USB Report Rate: 125/second
Sleep Mode: Disabled

Glide:

Total Weight : 106 Grams
Cord : 15 grams

Durability:

Button Life : 10 million clicks.
Feet : 250 kilometers.

In glide section there are some coefficients for friction. The dynamic coefficient is .09 and static coefficient is .14. Please note that these were measured on a wood veneer desk surface. Obviously other surface would have a little different friction coefficients. That concludes the brief specification.

If you liked this mouse, then do check out the “Logitech G5 Laser Mouse” as well. You will really love the looks of that mouse. Unfortunately, it’s double the price of what Logitech MX518 cost me.

Twitter has redesigned it’s homepage and My God! It’s beautiful. I won’t say that the old design wasn’t any good but yes it was loosing it’s charm somehow. But i guess this new homepage is lot more useful and attractive. Apart from the design work, what i like the most is the “latest trending topics” feature that you will only find if you’re logged in to your account on twitter.

Almost a month back, Twitter changed the follower and following page from basic style list to AJAX based list which is much more easier to use and good looking. Twitter has definitely grown into something big than what everyone expected. As for me, i always prefer Twitter over Orkut or Facebook, however i still cannot find my friends on Twitter as they are still hooked up to other old social networks. But i guess an year down the line, with more twitter awareness, my friends in India will start using it!

Twitter homepage and signing in process is noticeably very very fast now, compared to old design! I’m loving it!

Oh! Here’s the old design of homepage and the new much improved design:

Of course you can checkout the new design in action yourself by visiting Twitter.com. Make sure you’re not signed in at that moment!

Also, if you ever want Twitter’s profile custom design for just $25, you can contact my designer at AllyCreations.com. And you checkout my Twitter account for an example of our custom designs! Visit Sharat Jaswal Profile At Twitter!

72 Days and counting?

It’s been 72 days since i last made an update to my blog. I realized that it was high time to stop the count. I guess, the last few (unapproved) comments, made me change my mind and come back to my blog to start blogging all over again. Last few comments being questions like “Are you alive?” “Is it a shutdown?” “Are you selling this site?“….etc etc. To answer a few, Yes i am alive and kickin. In fact i have never been in a better health since last three or four years. So thanks for asking! And God no! I am not selling this site! Who in the world can buy a personal blog? Where the hell do you come up with such questions anyways? LOL

A lot happened in my life since i last made a post. Some of which i should mention, probably in the up coming updates on this website. By the way, i turned 27 this July 11th. I did celebrate my birthday in style. Had lunch with my love of my life, Simran. Followed by dinner with my family. And the following next day had dinner party with my friends. So yes, it was a great birthday this year.

I have watched lot of movies as well. If you are a movie maniac kid just the way i am, you’ll be amazed to read the list of movies that i have watched this summer. I really cannot name all of the movies that i have seen but i think total should come close to 35 movies in all, in last 70 days. That makes it a movie in two days. Not bad, haan! Okay, so just to name a few (specially the ones i super-liked) movies that i watched this summer : Angels n Demons, City of God, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fast & Furious 4, Kambakht Ishq (Hindi), Madagascar – Escape To Africa, Night At The Museum – Battle of the Smithsonian, New York (Hindi), Notorious, Paying Guest (Hindi), Pink Panther 2, Quantum of Solace, Terminator Salvation, The Reader and many many more. I guess the best of these all were “City of God“, a 2002 movie which i guess is a must watch movie for everyone. I think it’s a little on the 18+ mature audience side as the movie has lot of bloodshed and shocking violence. Another movie is the John Abraham starrer “New York“. I think it was great movie and it perfectly shows how Muslims were treated back in USA, after the 9/11 incident.  The brutality and torture to Muslim communities in America surely brought tears to eyes and of course John Araham did a fine job in the movie. Another must watch movie!

Moving on from entertainment to my health stuff. Well, i have been a little health conscious this time around. I am exercising enough to get back into shape. Hopefully the results will be seen very very soon, i hope. I do wish to shed some 10 kilos by two months! God willingly, it should be an easy task!

As for my spondylitis problem, i guess it’s here to stay. It’ll stay as long as i do not lose some weight and get my body weight in to right proprtions. After that i guess only time will tell if i can really get rid of spondylitis. Even now, as i am writing this post, i really feel heat in my neck and pain in the spine.

I have lot more to say, i even bought some new gadgets in last few days. I’ll blog about them pretty soon! Till then, i’ll have to say goodbye and take care!

I don’t think i need to introduce the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” to you. Few Oscars awards to it’s name, this movie has been super hit across the globe. I personally believe that’s not entirely true. People here in India do not find the movie too great that it could win an Oscar. A slumdog guy making into riches is not a unique concept. There are hundreds of movies in Bollywood that goes on the same concept and many of them actually are better and much more popular than Slumdog Millionaire. However, I do agree that the innovative idea wherein a guy becomes a millionaire via an actual reality TV show was a new concept, but that does not make it a great movie. I think the Americans and Britishers were overwhelmed with the slums and poverty shown in the movie, which is not a rare sight in India, so that bring in the differences between my opinion and those who think it was worthy of an Oscar. Still, i do not want to take any credits from it. It was a good movie and am proud of it that it won Oscars making it the first Indian movie to get such prestigious award.

This however is not the reason i wrote this post. The title of this post, most probably gave you a different picture in mind and that’s what this post is about. If i mention the name, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, that probably won’t ring in your minds. He was one of the child actors that acted in the movie. Probably the picture beside this post will give you a clear indication of who he really is.

Mohammed Ismail And Rest Of Crew of Slumdog Millionaire

Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail’s life never took a drastic change after the megahit Slumdog Millionaire made million bucks at box office. There is a reason why i am saying this and i will explain it a bit later. Anyways, the little guy lives in a city called “Garibnagar” (City of poor) in Mumbai, India. Yesterday, May14th 2009, a terrible thing happened. Azharuddin Ismail lost his home as it was demolished and turned into pile of debris by the Indian municipal authorities. According to the authorities, his home, among 20 other homes were illegally built, so they had to demolish it anyhow. I was just reading this news at CNN.com and a senior inspector of the authority named Rahim Sheikh, who is also in charge of the locality, told the CNN, that “The shanties were brought down as part of a municipal drive to clear encroachments on public land. Bulldozers leveled the slum built on a municipal garden”. So we now have a reason why this step was taken. I am not sure what to say here. It can be said that “Indian rules stand equal for everyone” whether poor man or celebrity which we all know is not true. We all know that Indian rules although laid strictly, but are flexible and corrupted in reality.

Anyways, what may bring tear to your eyes is when you see Azharuddin Ismail sitting between the debris and twisted metal, surrounded by filth on all sides and tears running down his cheeks. It’s little hard to believe specially for a buy who achieved such a success so very recently. According to Ismail, they got no notice for the demolition in advance and they weren’t even allowed anytime to remove their belongings from the house. It’s sad how things go around in India specially with the poor. Ismail family however were strong enough and said that they will return back and they do plan to rebuild the house. I would suggest that you do rebuild your house but take care of the encroachment laws this time around.

I managed to get hold of the video where in Ismail talks about how he feels on the same issue. He cried a lot and of course he expects little respects for his celebrity status which he was denied by the Mumbai authorities. Here is the video courtesy the Associated Press!

I did mentioned before about how his life never took a drastic turn. Ismail’s father is a bit cruel, so to speak. He was photographed beating his son after Ismail begged to rest his jet lagged body after reaching home from Oscars ceremonies in Los Angeles. His father has been trying repeatedly to fish out more money from Danny Boyle (Director of Slumdog Millionaire). It is believed that Ismail was paid $1000 USD (Rs. 50,000 INR approx.) during the filming of the movie. Danny was smart enough to put an amount near about $25,000 USD ( Rs. 12.5 Lacs INR approx.) in a trust which will be accessible by Ismail when he turns 18. Apart from that he pays $30 (Rs 1500) a week to 10 year old Ismail as allowance. Now imagine how this could change the life of a real slumdog kid. But thanks to his father, Ismail will only get money when he turns 18. So no drastic change as on now!

Anyways, i heard Danny Boyle initially offered them a house out of slums worth $30,000 USD. I hope this is the right time for that commitment to come into action. We surely hope the slumdog kid strike some peace in real life too.

Twitter, as most of you must be knowing by now, is the fastest growing social networking site with million of users as their members. Obviously, i am part of it as well and I’m simply loving it. I joined twitter on 7th of March’2009 which apparently was pretty late considering the fact that twitter was launched publicly on August of 2006

Twitter

Twitter is growing at a rapid speed. Probably faster than any other social networking website. Simplicity has really played a great role in it’s success. Twitter is all about “What are you doing?” and the idea of connecting with other people brings in million of people worldwide to join and use twitter. It also acts as a real time short messaging service as it can be used via cell phones, various desktop applications n API’s and of course from the twitter website itself. The best part is, that you can follow many popular celebrities on Twitter and know what they are up to, And if you lucky enough, you might end up being good friends and have long chats with them.

There is however one thing that most twitter users do not know and there are not many source you can get this information from. Twitter have set some following and daily follow limits that you should be aware of. I have listed the limits below along with a detailed description on all.

• Maximum Following Limit : Twitter has set the maximum following limit to 2000 or 110% of your total followers. This means, that you can follow only 2000 people in total, until and unless you have that many followers as well. Calculating 110 % for 2000 followings, you should have at least 1820 people following you in order to raise your limit of 2000 followers. In simpler terms you first limit is of 2000 followers and thereafter you can follow maximum of 110% of the total followers you have. For example if you have 5000 followers, you will be able to follow a maximum of 5500 twitter users only.
• Daily Following Limit : I have noticed many people asking me this very question on twitter pretty often. How many people can i follow on twitter every day? Well, the answer is simple. Twitter limits the number of accounts that a single person can follow in a day to 1,000. Thereafter, either your account will be flagged, suspended, banned or probably you will not be able to follow any one else! My advice would be to keep it under the scanner. Do not follow more than 500 members a day.
• Maximum Follower Limit : So how many people can follow you on a daily basis? Answer would be, infinity. There are no limits on that. It’s out of your control as to how many people follow you. So it would be little stupid to have a follower limit. (You can however control the number of people that follow you. Go to settings and check the box which says “Protect my Updates”. Thereafter people will have to send request to you so that they can follow you and only those will be allowed whom you approve.)

I tried to explain as easily as i could but i may have messed up a little, while ignoring all the technical terms that i could have used. So if i didn’t make sense, Roll Out on Floor and Laugh Out Loud ROFLOL. Thereafter, just use the comment section and ask me the thing you didn’t understand. I will make it more clear for you!

Alright, so presuming that i have explained the twitter limits successfully, i think it’s a good time to mention some of the Twitter tools that i really prefer and recommend for all twitterers.

• Twitter Karma : It’s one tool that i use on a daily basis. If you ever notice my stats (except on Friday’s due to #F0llowFriday participation), you will see that my stats of people whom i am following and my followers are always the same. I use twitter karma for keeping such stats. You simply have to login by filling up your twitter email address and password or you can sign in with twitter ID itself. Once signed in, it will find all your twitter followers and people whom you follow and very briefly it will show three categories of people. First one being people who follow you and you follow them back. Second will be of people who are following you but you are not following them back. Third and last category is of people whom you are following but they aren’t following you back. So thereafter, it’s very simple. I just select people who are not following back, select them all by a single click of button provided on site and “Bulk Unfollow” them. Similarly with people whom i am not following back, i select them all and “Bulk Follow” them. So now you know. You can’t escape me if you unfollow me as i will do the same for you!
• Twitter Follower : It’s a very very new site and just started two days back. Apparently the site is owned by John Chow! I first read about it on his web blog. Here is the link >> “Twitter Follower Launch”. I will have to say that he got a great domain for the tool. It matches perfectly with the role of this tool. It’s basically a well organized list of all those twitter users who have agreed to follow back each and every user who follows them. I signed up with them yesterday night and my Twitter stats have gone up by nearly 150 users in less than 12 hours. It really works and it’s highly recommended. Also, the tool has a mass unfollow button that unfollows all users who are not following you back. That is great but Twitter Karma and FriendOrFollow.com already does that so nothing very cool about it. There is one thing though, the site certainly do what it says it will. But overall, the site sucks as there is no design on homepage, no contact us, no about us, no feedback or suggestion form. Maybe it will come up soon as the site is still new but i expected better looks from a John Chow’s website!
• TwitPic : You know you can’t share pics on twitter but TwitPic solves that problem for you. I have it bookmarked although i am yet to make use of it and explore it in all ways. But i love the concept and i love how it helps in shortening image URL’s for the tweeple! So, if you ever feel like sharing a pic, just upload it to Twit Pic, then tweet the url it provides and all Twitter friend of yours would be all to see it,and even comment on it.
• Twitter Counter : I love stats and there are at least dozen web tools that work with twitter statistics. However, i really like Twitter Counter of the lot. First of all they provide a button with my follower stats on it. You can see that in action on the right side of my blog just above the flags/language translator. Besides that, their stats tell me about the total followers i have, how many followers have been added since yesterday and what is the likely prediction for tomorrow or 30 days from now on. It even let’s you tweet these stats. Lastly, it also display your Global or local rankings among some 2 million twitter users who are hooked up with Twitter Counter.

I did want to mention TweetMeMe.com which basically works like Digg.com. It shows the hottest stories on twitter. It’s user voted concept wherein twitter guys retweet the stories and most popular stories show up on the main website of TweetMeMe. You will see there widget on my site also and if you can then don’t forget to retweet my post! Now why i didn’t mention it along the above tools is because i consider it more of web site rather than a web tool. Pretty simple

I do use some more twitter tools but the above mentioned twitters tools are the most popular and often used. I hope you like them and i will appreciate your comments on this article. Thanks!