Following his steps, I ordered a similar card on ebay and finally got it working this week. Here is what you need to get and what you need to do to stay connected on the move using BSNL 3G.

Unlike the USB broadband connections, this card is placed inside the laptop, so the whole thing is an integrated unit, nothing to carry around and absolutely nothing protruding. It looks as if the laptop is born with internet

Things you would Need

• A Laptop with a Sim Card Slot. My Dell Studio 15 has a hidden Sim card slot under the battery compartment, you will need it.
• Option GTM378 PCI-E HSPDA Module. Order it here.
• A 3G GSM SIM. I bought a BSNL 2G SIM which is available for free and then upgraded it to 3G for free. A 3G sim costs Rs. 120.
• Drivers and a couple of Software’s, I have included download links below.

Unboxing Option GTM 378

Here are some shots of the pci-express card. My Card came with a 3G Antenna.

Step By Step – Installing the Card

Order a similar card on ebay (this is the one I bought) or get one from a local shop. From what I know, it costs around 4500 INR here locally, but I got it online for 43$ which is only half that cost.

Open up the back compartment of your Laptop and install the Card. The Antenna port or connector marked A is the port for GPS Antenna (Refer this). We are supposed to plug in the 3G Antenna to the other connector (one not marked A), but since I had spare wires on my laptop, which I assumed to be connected to some kind of internal antenna, I connected one of those to the 3G antenna connector and connected the 3G Antenna to the GPS slot (the one marked A).

I haven’t been able to lock on to any satellites yet, maybe its because of the connection as said above. Anyway 3G works great, have to figure out the GPS issue soon, will keep you posted.

OK, once the stuffs are in place, close the compartment. Restart your PC.

Now Windows will detect new hardware and try to install drivers. If you are on Windows 7, you probably wont need any driver.

Download Drivers

If you are on Vista or XP, you probably need a driver. Use the download links given below.

• Driver Software – For Windows to Detect the Card. Go here and Select ‘Driver Win’.
• Connectivity Software – For Windows to Connect to the Network. Go here and Select ‘Dashboard Win’.

Install the driver first and restart your computer. The installation will complete and windows will show a installation success message. Now install the Dashboard software.

> Check this forum for many FAQ’s

Buy a 3G SIM

I got mine from BSNL, as I said earlier, a 3G sim costs 120 bucks. Instead buy a 2G sim which comes for free, and upgrade it to 3G, again for free. Plug the SIM to its port and restart your pc.

Make sure 3G is active on the SIM (check by dialing *123# from a mobile with the sim and see if the plan says ‘3G General’ in it or something similar). Open up the Dashboard we installed earlier. Its called GlobeTrotter Connect. Click on “show settings” and you have to enter a APN. This is tricky.

The APN depends on the the mobile number of the SIM.

• @TheAnand uses ‘gprssouth.cellone.in‘ (without the quotes of course)
• I use ‘bsnlnet‘. I got it from here.
• You could get some more from this list here.

Both username and password are meant to be left blank. If that doesn’t work, try what is said in the link above.

If you get it right, when you press Connect, it would connect to the internet and you can start Browsing.

> Find Details of the 3G Data Plans here

OK, So I got GPS?

Well, Not yet. But I got the GPS thingy activated and it started searching for satellites successfully. Have to resolve that issue, should be an issue with the antenna (now that I am using the 3G antenna with it) or poor signal strength or something.

Here are some links that will give you a head start. GPS is disabled on the card by default (why would they do that?)

• GPS Activation Details and Some Useful Links from @TheAnand
• How to Enable GPS on Option GTM 378 – The official Version
• HyperTerminal For Vista
• Free GPS Softwares for Windows

Ok, Have fun, Stay Connected and Move Your A$$ around. lol.

Internet On the Move with BSNL 3G and Option GTM 378 is a post from: The Kuttappi

As usual, and for one last time (yay), I had to borrow my mom’s awesome mobile camera, Sony Ericsson K 810i for the photo shoot. (I have skipped some stuffs like warranty card, leaflets etc. to keep the number of images down).

First Impressions

Since its my first time with any DSLR, I don’t have a frame of reference, but I do really feel great about this Camera. Thanks to the internet, I do feel comfortable with the Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority Modes. The menu is neatly arranged and I feel easy with everything. Just like I use any mobile phone or a point and shoot camera.

Click Click

Couple of shots with Canon EOS 550D.

Keep Track of my best shots, here is my flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arunbasillal/

Linkies

I have created a Twitter Profile to Collect the Photography Tutorials I read online, if you are interested, you may follow it here: @ProClicks

The day after the Canon Photography Workshop I googled to see if there were any email groups for Photographers in Kerala, I couldn’t find any. So I have created one to share news of Photography Workshops and Seminars in and around Kerala and general discussions. If you are into Photography, please do join in – Photography Kerala Google Group

Ok, time to snap!

Unboxing DSLR Canon EOS 550D, 18-55 IS Kit is a post from: The Kuttappi

I didn’t want to be late, so I set out really early in the morning (had a plan to see a guy before the event which was at 10:30 am, thanks to the slow ordinary bus, I missed the meeting, but was really early for the workshop). From what I had known from my friends, I had decided to get off at Kacherippady bus stop; I didn’t bother to ask anyone where it was, by the time I asked someone, I had missed the stop.

I got off in front of Sunny Diamonds, well, this stop is much closer to Abad Plaza than the other one. It was my lucky day!

So I reached the registration counter and was prepared to pay Rs. 200 as mentioned in the invitation. But they didn’t ask for any, gave my name and visiting card (yay! I got plenty of them ).

There were about 10 guys inside, and by the look and feel I could say that they all were professionals. I found a guy who looked more like an amateur near the front row.

Okay, here is the deal – I forgot his name, but I have it on my notepad. I kept my notes in @BinnyVA’s carry bag and left it there. He is supposed to send me the scans by now, well, he is super busy, so that will have to wait. Notes from the camp will come up once I get it

Update: Got his name, he is @mahadevaniyer.

I saw coffee being served on the sidebar (?). I was not sure if it was free or paid, so I waited. Then I saw the guy in front of me, one Mr. Binil, (he gave me his card), having coffee. So I followed.

Right after I finished coffee, @Jinson and @NeenaNair walked in. I remember Neenz from BlogCamp Kerala 1, but I couldn’t recall Jins. He could recall me, so I was in an embarrassing situation. Anyways, we got introduced. (After reaching home and some digging up, I found him here, now I remember!)

Our resource person, Mr. Balan Madhavan (@WildFrames) came in with his Mac (oooh!). Lights went down, and a Canon Feature Video came up on the huge screen.

@BinnyVA came in from nowhere and took a seat near me. Balan sir introduced himself and started off with some of his shots.

The aim of the photography was to enlighten the Digital SLR users about the possibilities of their gear and make then get the most of it.

The morning session was about the technical aspects of the Camera, and how the Digital concepts are related to the old film photography concepts. Mr. Balan knows everything so well and his examples were so to-the-point.

I had the feeling I had at BlogCamp Kerala 1, the feeling of an alien, but I tried to keep up and took notes. BlogCamp Kerala 1 proved to be a milestone in my blogging career and I hope this one turns out to be one for me in Photography.

After a while we spotted @BinoyXJ on a back row. He was my companion for the rest of the day. We had great free lunch (discovered: there is something called Free Lunch, find out where the next Canon India Workshop is ), and had lot of fun at the Social Media Meet up later in the evening.

I was surprised to meet @KarmaDude, I thought he had left India. Next surprise came in the form of @ShalvinPD, he too is into photography! Also met @Zuhiboy who is a fashion photographer himself.

[@BinnyVA just sent me the scans of my notes, so here they are, just in time. And this link is a thank_you for his effort, no he didn't ask for it. Go check out - http://binnyva.com and get a hang of #BinnyVA]

Notes From Canon Photography Workshop

For clarity, let me introduce the least effective way for the human brain to remeber – Bullets . All thanks to Mr. Balan.

• Digital Photography is ever improving, so if you are buying a Digital Camera, buy the latest. The latest would have all the issues fixed as compared to its ancestors.
• Raw Image Format is called “Digital Negative”. Shoot important shots in Raw. Raw format allows a lot of post-production edits. Also if you have to file a copyright claim, you need raw image to show that you shot the image.
• JPEG is not compression, its removing the repeated pixels. JPEG is finished image, the output and not recommended for post-production. Shoot in Raw if you are planning of post-production edits.
• Adobe Lightroom is a recommended software for editing Raw. Costly option.
• Buy the oldest and one of the cheapest accessory that can improve your shots dramatically – The Tripod.
• We talked about Exposure Bracketing and HDR.
• Its not all about how many Mega Pixels you have, the size of each Mega Pixel vary. DSLR cameras have bigger sensors. So an image taken with a 8 MegaPixel Mobile Camera, 8MP Point and Shoot Camera and 8MP DSLR, all three will be different. DSLR will be far better.
• Show the world only your best shots, trash the rest.
• Always transfer pictures to a studio computer via CD Rom or DVD. There are viruses that affect camera’s software and many cases have been reported.
• Buy a Desiccator Box to protect your gear.
• If you cannot afford a Desiccator Box, buy an air tight, transparent pearlpet jar, buy a packet of silica gel (about 500 grams), make a layer of Silica Gel first, cover it with a dry towel and store the camera on it. When the Silica Gel turns white, remove moisture from it by heating in a microwave.
• One thing I really understood from the camp is that, they all are damn serious about their profession. They are ready to go to any extend the situation demands and buy any equipment no matter how expensive they are. I met an old guy who had over 3 lack rupees worth of gear in his bag.
• The afternoon session was a practical session with a real Model (Mumtaz). Lighting up a model using minimum lights was discussed.

Overall, I found it really effective. I got to meet a bunch of cool people, thought I felt way out of the league

P.S: Dad bought me a Canon 550 D the day after the camp, un-boxing pics will follow.

Social Media Day @ Cochin

Mashable had declared the same day as World Social Media Day and so we had a Social Media Meetup there after. Basically all those of us who use Twitter, Facebook and the like met at a cafe and had some drinks

Me, @BinnyVA and @BinoyXJ walked to a nearby cafe, Coffee Cube. @ShalvinPD came in with his wife. Then came @KarmaDude (or maybe in the reverse order). @Zuhiboy came in, then came @Praseed3point14. @KenneyJacob also came in. and that was it.

We played some crazy naughty game, what is it called? some Jiggle I guess Had a couple of very expensive drinks and talked about everything under the sun. Saw some superb works of @Zuhiboy on his laptop.

After the meet, we said good byes. I came home with @Praseed3point14, he gave me company till Aluva Bus Stand, I got a Kothamangalam Bus and I came home. Lets call that a day!

p.s: Mumtaz’s mobile number: 9995394558 ( I kept my word!)

Notes From Canon Photography Workshop at Cochin is a post from: The Kuttappi

First priority is Time. You never know where all the time went. I would wake up and read and write a couple of emails, reply to some facebook and twitter calls, and lo! its afternoon already.

Then I would have my breakfast (yes, breakfast) and get back and before I know it, lunch is ready. Time moves slowly only in the evening, and that’s when most things get done for me.

Einstein was right, Time is relative!

And I thought SSH involved freedom to sleep and go out. The truth is, I haven’t been having enough sleep, I feel like the exam days at college. I would take a nap at 11.00 pm and tell my sister to call me after an hour or so. Its been a crazy week and I still have a ton of work pending.

Anyway, as a result of ‘hanging-out‘ with @KenneyJacob and @TheAnand last Monday and Tuesday, I have decided to give up SSH and to move to the next level, more on that later.

P.S: There was a trip to Veega Land last Wednesday

SSH is Not as Easy as I Thought is a post from: The Kuttappi

iCon is a biography of Steve Jobs and tells the story of his journey with Apple, NeXT and Pixar. I was expecting to read more about Steve Jobs, the man, but it turned out to be more of Jobs as a Entrepreneur with flashes into his personal life here and there.

If you are new to Jobs, after reading the first half of the book, you will hate him. I saw my all time favourite Steve Jobs Speech about that time and for the first time ever didn’t feel anything throughout the video. But it all comes back towards the end of the book: the second coming of Steve Jobs.

One trait of Steve that made an impression on me is his attention for detail and his love for the cool looks. He is always concerned with how things look; no wonder the iPods are cool and MAC’s are awesome.

I wouldn’t say that the book is well written, scenes change without any relation and here is something that irritated me the most: using First names in half the places and Last names in another half. Usually authors pick the part of the name that can be easily identified by the reader, like Lasseter for John Lasseter or at least would stick to one part of the name. The authors of iCon choose to use John and Lasseter to their liking.

But the story is exciting and comments from the authors to behavioural traits and events is amusing enough to win the reader. A good read overall, inspiring too.

iCon: The Story of Apple, NeXT and Pixar is a post from: The Kuttappi

The book is about his life so there is definitely lot of Bike-ing in this one. More than that, the book is about he being a cancer patient, about how he got over it, about the most wonderful people he met in his life, about how he had his baby and how he won the Tour de France.

There are way too many heart touching parts, he explains a lot of stuff in detail, especially the medical stuffs. Its amazing how he remembers all this stuff. If you ask me, I don’t remember most of my childhood, esp. the names and the people. (That is one reason why I have this blog, to document my life.)

This is my favorite quote from the whole book. Lance says: “If you ever get a second chance in life for something, you’ve got to go all the way“.

The book ends with “I will ride again, into the highest hills, up the pitch of a mountainside, where green leaves quiver in the cold sun“. In reality, Lance rode again and again and went on to win the Tour de France six more times consecutively (total 7 wins in a row) after he did the book.

If you like reading inspiring stuffs, like sports or like reading autobiographies, get this one online or next time you visit your bookshop. Totally worth it.

Thanks @HariKris for lending me his copy of the book!

If “It’s Not About The Bike”, Then What Is It About? is a post from: The Kuttappi

To double the awesomeness, instead of diving deep into my Sunday Sleep-of-the-Week, I decided to watch a movie and picked (500) Days of Summer.

As they say it, it is a story of a boy meeting a girl, but its not a love story. Having said that, the movie is very romantic and is all about Love. No, its not another tragic ending movies, it ends very happily… shh, I shouldn’t tell you about the twist. Go watch it.

I could put myself exactly into the shoes of the hero, well.. not exactly him, but thinking in terms of much less girly things, yes. If I had seen this one right when it was released in August last year, then I would be a much better hero.

This movie is a much watch for any Heart Broken Lover and it agrees closely to how I see Destiny and Fate.

P.S: (500) Days of Summer has some real nice, and romantic sound tracks. The movie is presented very creatively and differently and the girl in the movie looks great. me likes

500 Days of Summer and 1 Day of Autumn is a post from: The Kuttappi

I had been attending BarCamp Kerala since 2008 starting with BarCamp 3 and BlogCamp Kerala before that. Everything changed ever since.

So what makes BarCamp 8 Special and why should you attend?

• For the first time we have a sponsor, the college itself is sponsoring the event.
• That means you get free Food and Stay in case you need to
• I am taking a session for the first time at a BarCamp, though I had done one extempore session before at BCK 6, this is gonna be the real one

My session is gonna be a demo of Building Websites with WordPress, inspired from the response of the Demo part of my presentation at CET, Thalassery.

The Demo I have in mind would start from ground zero i.e installing WordPress Core, WordPress Themes, Plugins to Blogging with WordPress. I would also show how one can totally personalize their WordPress blog by editing their Theme and adapting plugins to their need. The exact things I do on most of the Web Design Projects I get.

If you need more reasons to attend: There are 13 other sessions registered so far and 94 awesome attendees.

For Starters…

BarCamp is a technology enthusiasts meet. No, its not a Bloggers meet (as many of my friends at college would say) or a Geeks Party.

BarCamp is a unofficial meet of some cool people who love technology and the web and BarCamp is an excuse to get out of their computers and meet some real people.

A BarCamp is an un-conference, which would convert into – No welcome speech or Vote of Thanks, No Formalities of a meeting, Open Forum where you can talk anything and have total fun.

At BarCamps, we have fun, jokes are cracked every now and then, we have good food and yet another day to remember.

You are invited!

Come over, it will be like nothing you have ever seen. Inspiration Guaranteed!

Register yourself if you are thinking of coming, its free. If you are attending do let me know via comments or email. Lets catchup

Why don’t you take a Session?

If you have anything interesting to say, there are lots of people would would like to hear you. It could be about anything, like your experience with a project you did, the stuffs you learnt by doing something or your life story or anything that you think others can make use of.

You don’t have to be a Guru to talk at a BarCamp. Add your session.

If you are not attending, keep track of #BCK8 tweets, we have live tweeting every time.

P.S: This post was NOT generated using the BarCamp Kerala Post Generator by @BinnyVA which is made for the lazy guys. Am not lazy

I am Speaking at BarCamp Kerala 8, you are invited! is a post from: The Kuttappi

I had bought a 3×3 Rubik’s cube earlier from a local shop, here is how to solve a 3×3 Rubik’s cube. That one was the original Erno Rubik cube from Rubiks.com.

These are called Eastsheen Rubik’s cubes, no idea why. The quality of the 2×2 cube is awesome, 4×4 and 5×5 are good. The 3×3 is not as good as the original one (the 3×3 cube in this set is not from the same manufacturer as that of the 2×2, 4×4 and 5×5 cubes). It took 8 days for the delivery.

Satisfied and happy, can’t wait to solve them. Snap! I need to learn them first

Guess what came in mail today?! is a post from: The Kuttappi

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot… But what of the man?

More Quotes from V for Vendetta

Yesterday, after quite along gap, I sat down to watch this movie, V for Vendetta. I got the feeling of reading Shakespeare or Macbeth.

V for Vendetta is the story of a masked fighter who calls himself ‘V’ and who fights against the corrupted and monarchist government. This movie got action, dialogues, a twisted romance (never seen a movie in which the lover shaves the head of his girl, lol), and suspense. Total thriller.

The movie shows the strength of unity and shows how one man can change the world with an Idea. As he says, Beneath this mask there is an idea, and ideas are bulletproof.

If you watch movies for the story and the dialogue more than the action or romance, V for Vendetta is a must watch. No wonder it has an IMDB rating of 8.2!

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot is a post from: The Kuttappi