'Qrious' - A pre-APOGEE CSA event

The online riddle cum quizzing event, 'Qrious' is back under its fifth cover come APOGEE, 2012. Despite owing its existence to the Computer Science Association, BITS - Pilani, the event is spared of the innate technical edge and is broadly a  multi-disciplinary event. While it has a linear format, requiring players to solve each level in turn before progressing to the next, one could anticipate some interesting deviations to the game such as the liberty of taking a flip and so forth. A fair proportion of logical skills, remote viewing and a decent general knowledge/googling skill should suffice the requisites for the game. The pictures on display, background, URL or even the page source could hold indicators to your answer ;so, listen well! A dynamic leader-board would be maintained keeping track of the rankings, modulated both by the total score and as well the time of completion at any given instant. As evident, the person capturing the top slot when the event calls off, takes home the win.

The event commences on the 11th of Febraury, 2012. Remember to get yourself registered at the APOGEE 2012 website http://bits-apogee.org/2012/register and use the same credentials to login for Qrious. For all the updates and discussions do follow our  facebook page https://www.facebook.com/qrious.bits  and yes, stay Qrious.

Alumni Research Talks - II

The last blog post had pretty much introduced Alumni Research Talks to everyone. The speakers for the event and their topics of discussion have been finalised. We thus have a whole range of really hot research topics for the event with some highly prolific BITSian alumni throwing light on each of them this January.

We have Abhishek, who did his final semester thesis from Chennai Mathematical Institute, who would be giving a talk in ART describing certain aspects of Coding theory. His talk will focus on  encoding and decoding schemes in the context of non-binary cyclic error-correcting (Reed-Solomon) codes which finds applications as varied as compact disc players and deep-space exploration.

Natthu, another talented 2010 BITSian graduate, is currently doing his masters from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He will be uncovering topics like Virtualization, with a special emphasis on Virtual Machine Managers (Hypervisors).
Prasanta will be here to provide insight into ICTD (Information and Communications Technology for/and Development), which is an initiative for designing low cost solutions for our emerging communities. He did his Masters in Software Systems from Pilani, and is currently working as a software engineer at ebay.
Rizwan, yet another prolific 2010 alumnus,  who is currently taking his Masters at IIT-K, will be here this January to describe some techniques to analyse randomised algorithms, and to discuss some of its applications in various domains. He will also be discussing the use and scope of CS in quantitative finance.
The co-founder of TheFind Inc (a shopping search based startup with more than 17 million unique online hits every month), Shashikant boasts of a masters degree at Stanford University amongst many other things. As his profile suggests, he will discussing certain aspects and hairy intricacies of owning a technical startup, with a particular emphasis on people having a CS background.
Srikrishna is currently undergoing his Ph.D at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He will be helping us remove that familiar fog of doubt amongst us BITSians regarding taking Ph.D/MS for higher studies.
Swapnil is doing his masters at UIUC. This January, he will be throwing some all-important light on the potential of Supercomputers, its power requirements, its construction, speed and applications.
Finally, we have Vineet, a 2011 alumnus currently working with the Advanced Technology Group at NetApp, India. He will visit his Alma mater during ART to discuss the potential, advantages and disadvantages of Flash Memory over conventional storage devices, and different research aspects pertaining to it.
We look forward to seeing all our decorated seniors around, and we hope their endeavour maneuvers the largely clueless BITSians to the right paths to research.

Complete profiles of the speakers can be viewed at http://art.bits-csa.org/speakers.php

Alumni Research Talks - I

Alumni Research Talks is a three day industry-student-research symposium being organized by the Computer Science Association and the CSIS Department of BITS Pilani, in association with Embryo.
Research Talks and seminars are very common in most premier institutes all over the world, and these things are a quintessential component of any world class learning institution. However, we at BITS Pilani have scarcely been exposed to such activites, which is indeed unfortunate.
Now, with a total overhaul of course structure, creation of new Professorships and complete revamping of infrastructure on the cards, we at CSA believe that it is imperative to promote research related activities on campus.
The idea for ART stems from the same fact. Business plan competitions and leadership contests have already been a big success in BITS, but for a university that goes by the name Institute of Technology and Science, there is a sore lack of activites that promote research. Also, what we study seems to be totally irrelevant to what we hope to become once we get that coveted BE degree.
Which is what ART hopes to open our eyes to.
During this 3 day symposium we shall have on campus, recent alumni of BITS Pilani who are actually involved in doing what hope to do someday. Some are pursuing MS and PhD in grad schools from different parts of the world like UIUC and Stanford, while yet others are working for firms like Facebook, Google, NetApp, et al. They hope to dispel all myths that one might harbour about academics in BITS in general, and illuminate minds towards how things actualy work in the real world. These are people who have, to use a cliche, “been there, done that.”
The Research Talks that have been planned encompass a wide variety of topics, mostly centered around various aspects of Computer Science. Also, there shall be a Hackathon and free snack sessions to boot, wherein you can actualy meet and talk your heart out to these wonderful people who will only be glad to share there experiences and knowledge with you.
The official website for ART is up here. So for further details, keep checking this page. Also, you can register online and be a part of ART 2012, here.
We look forward to seeing you around.

TURING TALK - "Complex Network Analysis"

24th September, 2011: Continuing with the tradition of  Turing Talks, which is a CSA organised lecture series, Ajitesh Srivastava, the Mr. Turing of the day, presented an illuminating yet exciting talk on Complex Network Analysis. The evening saw a descent turnout of  approximately 60 keen participants . With focus on the mathematical modelling  of social networks,he paid emphasis on acquainting the audience with the basics of the same before delving deeper.
The later part of the evening was mostly dedicated to,

• Modelling of a subset of the BITSian friendship network and determining the various mathematical parameters associated.
• Plotting of the twitter growth model and comparing with the actual data, thus paving way for show stopper,
• The Power Law which practically dominates the growth pattern of most social and collaboration networks.

The speaker managed to keep the audience interested by picking up interesting demonstrations of  Power Law in collaboration networks like the Erdos' number and the Bacon number, seemingly flawed but true instances !
The event wrapped up with a round of interesting queries, thus providing an intellect invoking end to the lecture.Many thanks to Mr. Turing, Ajitesh and lets hope to see the Turing Talks get bigger and better.
Cheers!
P.S I have share the presentation slides below

Complex Network Analysis [slideshare id=9453511&w=425&h=355&sc=no]

View more presentations from 23annu

MINDTURNER 4.0

31th August, 2011: The end of August saw the initiation of CSA events with Mindturner completing its fourth successful year.With a decent assemblage  of quizzing enthusiasts, the event was good to go by 5:30 pm.
At the very outset,  the audience was briefed  on the rules governing the game; which basically were :

• an upper limit of 3 members in a team
• higher weight-age to starred questions and,
• the supremacy of the quiz-master of course.

The quiz began with relatively simpler questions, soon to delve into trickier and wit demanding ones later in the evening. Brainstorming to say, was clearly in the air with frowned minds attempting to unveil the answers.The smartness of the audience was evident from the very fact that hints to certain prechosen  questions were vehemently discouraged by certain teams.

Internet history and less known significant events were the ruling themes of the event.Certain genre of successful questions of the former Minturners  like 'Photo Connect'  were continued while some new patterns viz. xkcd's and dooodles were experimented with.With questions reaching an  exhaustion point, the unmistakable determination to win was clearly portrayed on  the participants' faces.

The event concluded with a moderately famous xkcd question which had  a  definitely  illustrious answer, thus not posing a significant disadvantage to the ones new to it.This marked an end to the very first CSA event of the year and yes a promising end, that is.Wishing greater peaks of success to Mindturner 5 and the other events to follow. 'Stay hungry, stay foolish' and watch everything fall into place!

Curriculum modification for CS

As a part of Vision 2020 - Mission 2012 for BITS Pilani (facebook page) which aims to put it amongst the leading educational institutions worldwide, Task Force 1 led by Prof. Sundar B of Computer Science and Information Systems Group recently provided its recommendations to make the curriculum competitive with other universities . An outline can be downloaded here: Suggestions for Curriculum modification. Please not that this is not an official copy.
About the Task Force: The task force for curriculum started its work in Nov 2009. Over 120 faculty members in four campuses took part. Over 60 of them in benchmarking. Over 100 programmes in various universities were analysed. To give an idea, there were 2-3 seminars only on identification of parameters on which the curriculum should be benchmarked and 25-30 parameters were identified.
Since curriculum discussion elicits passionate response from students, there was a discussion about the same amongst alumni of the Computer Science Association and we have compiled a doc which suggests some additions which we believe will complement the modifications suggested by the Task Force. The document can be downloaded here: Suggestions for A7 by CSA alumni
A big thank you goes out to everyone who took time from their hectic schedules to participate in the online discussions. We wish that the new curriculum manages to stimulate and motivate students to pursue their interests and not become just another face in the crowd. As Dolores Umbridge said in Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix,

"It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient to get you through your examinations, which after all, is what school is all about."

More Dumbledore than Umbridge. :)
-Vineet Pandey, 2006A7TS054P
(for CSA)

APOGEE 2011 Project Meet

at the Lecture Theater Complex, 5102. January 13th 2011.
Be there.

Google goes nuts? Presenting the Body Browser

One would associate an uber-cool firm like Google with innovations and ground breaking products in all fields computer-y and internet-y and geeky. True, this new one is all that, yet a lot more.

Google Body Browser

Presenting the Body Browser. Google's entry into the world of biology with a mind-blowing twist. The Body Browser is all that a medicine and physiology student would need to master the intricacies of the human body. Powered by webGL plugin-less 3D technology, it simulates the human body like never before. You can zoom in, zoom out, go through the various systems and explore blood vessels and tissues from a level never imagined before. Excruciating details, and awesome 3D effects make it brilliantly engaging to say the least. You can even make muscle tissues transparent to allow better study of underlying parts. The images are based on the data from the Zygote Media Group, and 3D rendering right into your web browser is made possible owing to WebGL.

Of course you'd need a web browser that supports WebGL, which is a drawback for the time being. As of now you can use Beta versions of Google Chrome 8 or Mozilla Firefox 4, but more and more browsers will start supporting WebGL with time.
You can check the Google Body Browser in action here (using one of the aforementioned web browsers) here at  http://bodybrowser.googlelabs.com/
To wrap it up, another path-breaking product from Google. Way to go.

Architecture & Systems Interest Group

Computer Science Association is working to form an interest group in Systems/ Architecture to spur interest in these topics. Very creatively called "Architecture & Systems Interest Group" (ASIG), it will comprise of students from all years who have a keen interest and/or basic knowledge about what goes into designing a system (like an OS) and implementing it. (The word interest has been used 5 times already).

ASIG *hopes to* undertake the following activities:

1. Discussions on current technical advancements (*technical*)
2. Understanding and emulating seminal papers
3. Doubt clearance on related concepts through small tasks
4. Tea sessions

Based on how this shapes up, we shall align the discussions with faculty work for better impact. If you find this interesting and have wasted enough time reading wiki articles on the topic and can devote 3 hours (two lesser movies) per week, mail in the following details by 24th September (Friday):

(Write "No clue. Damn" wherever you don't know what to say)

• Name
• ID
• One project you have worked on (20 words)
• One project you know about anywhere in the world that you'd love to be a part of (not necessarily CS) (20 words)
• One concept in OS/Architecture you find super-fascinating and why (30 words)

Your mail should be found in the inbox of one Aastha Mehta (07A7): aasthakm@gmail.com with subject line as "Interest in ASIG". By Friday evening.

How boring could an interest group be? We shall get back to you. Thanks for reading.

Vineet

And it finally begins...

The unconference has finally started with Kinshuk giving an introduction about Open source softwares. The session has started off as quite interactive. A video was shown titled "Open Source is Magic" by Chris DiBona from Google.  A talk by Atharva on Revision Control System is now about to start...

The begining of a start

Well the start of the Unconference ahs been delayed due to CERN scientist Archana Sharma's lecture which was going on at the same time. So the event now starts at 9:00 p.m. With half an hour to go lots of preparations are under way. Just now one of the speakers ahs turned up and is busy setting up his laptop.  The LTC QT where the session will be held is all set for action with Wi-Fi connec. A small crowd has already gathered to participate in the event and are patiently waiting for it to start.  Ok. Now I must sign off... Have some work to do... Catch you later...

The calm before the OSScamp

Today marks the start of FOSS Den @BITS-Pilani. So I thought I could put everyone up to date with what’s going on behind the scenes in the Den. Well, 1216 has been set up as the FOSS-Den and we have about 6 comps there loaded and ready. Plus we have prepared some presentations on open source softwares. Mostly the preparations at FOSS Den have been pretty fun with everyone engrossed in the work. In fact people were so engrossed in their work, nobody noticed me sneakily playing Diablo on my computer side by side ;). Anyways now back to some serious stuff… Let me brush up on today’s schedule

• 08pm - 10pm: Social Sandbox: Open Source, Unconferences, India - @LTC
• 10pm - 12am: Sessions and Talks (4 Slots Available) - @LTC
• 12am - 02am: FOSS Hackathon - @LTC QT

Personally I am looking forward for the session at M-Lawns. Open air, Lawns… It is going to be one heck of an event. The OSScamp is going to be ‘OSS’ome :). Keep watching this space for more details…

BUZZ Off.. !!

Google Buzz is the newest kid in the flourishing town of social networking. For those who don't know, Google Buzz is a social networking and messaging tool from Google, designed to integrate into the company's web-based email program, Gmail. Users can share links, photos, videos, status messages and comments organized in conversations and visible in the user's inbox.
But this venture of one of the world's most appreciated innovator seems to have backfired. Many Google users are not as impressed by Buzz as expected. Buzz was certainly a good combination of Twitter and Gmail right in you inbox. Though many things about Buzz were quite cool and impressive, it failed to strike the right cord for many.
One of the primary reasons why Buzz has seen some detest from the users is Buzz forces its way into your mailing system. A Gmail user is left with little choice but to accept Google Buzz. So even though you may skip noticing  it a few times, finally you may say ‘what the heck’ and accept it anyway. Another eccentric drawback is that Google has defiantly interfered with the user's personal privacy. When you agree to take Google Buzz in your life, remember one thing, you automatically follow some of them (without your knowledge) and they will follow you automatically as well. So in case, you do not want them to follow you, you have to go to each contact and put an ‘uncheck mark’ against them one by one. When you send a message on Google Buzz, you have an option to keep as public or private. But if someone replies or comments on it, your followers can see it. Google has quite a clean image on the web, but such tactics can very well tarnish it out.
A recent New York Times article stated that "Google is known for releasing new products before they are fully ready and then improving them over time." Google has twice tried to address privacy concerns: first by making the option to disable public sharing of contact lists more prominent and later by changing one of Buzz's features from "auto-follow" to "auto-suggest". This allows users to choose whom they follow, and, therefore, who is revealed on their public list of contacts; the list is still public by default. These changes to the way that Google Buzz operates have, however, been criticized as inadequate and the company has been criticized for failing to take its users' privacy concerns seriously.
Buzz has received a cold reception at the hands of the media as well as the general public. And the matter of fact is that there is nothing new and original in Buzz. PCWorld's JR Raphael criticized Buzz for both its intrusive nature and privacy concerns, citing above all that it merely adds "more noise into an already buzzing area of my life".
If you are a user who has no use for Google Buzz, login to your Gmail account and scroll down to the bottom of the page. In the footer links you will see a link which says "turn off buzz". Just click on that link and Google Buzz will disappear from your Gmail account forever. If you want to turn on Google Buzz again(Why would you??), scroll down to the bottom and click on the "turn on buzz" link. But Google should quickly strip Gmail of this feature themselves rather than make the users do it. We just hope that Google soon realizes that even the best can make mistakes. After all, it is their ability to rectify and learn from these follies which sets them all apart.

C.O.D.E.R

Brace up for the first Coding extravaganza of the APOGEE season. CODER is back this year in an all new avatar, with even more tantalizing questions to solve and an even saucier theme. Enjoy racking your brains as you play around with God's own language, the almighty 'C' and use your wits and ingenuity to do the rest for you.

The best part is, of course, the chance to prove your C coding mettle on a nation-wide platform. And with the respect, you get some fabulous prizes to take home.
Can't wait to see the questions already ??? Go register yourself for CODER at : http://bits-apogee.org/2010/user/register.

Qrious

The most awaited Quizzing event of APOGEE.. starts 20th February at 8.00 PM
Log onto http://bits-apogee.org/2010/event/online/qrious for more info