Barebones PC for about 25K

I researched quite a bit and my configuration looks like this –
1) Processor AMD Phenom X3 BE - http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=522 (Cost : apprx 8K)
2) ASUS M3A78-EM motherboard http://products.amd.com/en-us/RecommendedMBDetail.aspx?id=35 (Cost : appr 5k)
3) RAM 2 GB DDR2 800 MHZ (if you want to go for 4 GB you need 64 bit OS, not worth going in for 1066 Mhz because of cost/performance ratio) (Cost : apprx 2k)
4) nVidia GeForce 9400 1 GB PCI Express Card (Cost : apprx 4k)
5) Seagate 500 GB HDD (Cost : apprx 3k)
6) Circle CPU case with twin cooling fans. (Cost : apprx 2k)

I used toms hardware, anandtech & all the couple of others via google search before I finalized the processor, RAM & motherboard. This is a decent machine for home usage and moderate gaming. An interesting point to note is that the processor is actually a Phenom X4 with one core locked, some enthusiasts have successfully unlocked the fourth core. Also this has 6MB L3 cache for three cores which theoretically is superior than the other processors because of the high L3 availability.

45 Best Freeware Design Programs

http://www.snap2objects.com/2007/07/20/45-best-freeware-design-programs/

"My Topography- The Shape of Daily Life"

http://www.mytopography.com/

Five Great Presentations

http://gdreport.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/5-great-presentation/

What does your phone number spell?

http://www.phonespell.org/phoneSpell.html

http://www.mightynumber.com/

How to Buy the Right Headphones

A top-notch MP3 player is only half of the audio equation. No matter what your budget, we've got the headphones to maximize your listening experience.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2324413,00.asp

How does your salary compare ?

Naukri.com, a job search portal, has launched new PayCheck Tool that benchmarks salary, based on functional area, experience and other combinations. This will help the job seekers to look what's the statistical data of the salary they should be expecting and what the recruiters are offering. A perfect tool for fresh Jimmy to know how much a particular job role will fetch him annually. PayCheck can be accessed here: http://my.naukri.com/PayCheck/salary. PayCheck offers a three step method to get the correct information - Choose, Personalize and Compare.

Password-protected Memory Card

Some people have password on their memory card even though they never set it. Apparently this problem occurs on some phones, mostly happens on Nokia Eseries phones.

How to solve the problem? If, for some reasons, you activate remote lock option on your phone, it will change your memory card’s password too. Just for your information, remote lock option allows you to lock your phone by sending SMS to it. It is a nice feature if you accidentally left your phone somewhere and you don’t want other people using it. You can activate this feature from Tools Settings Security Phone and SIM Allow remote lock menu. The password of your memory card will be your remote lock message.

http://www.s60tips.com/2007/03/03/another-tip-for-password-protected-memory-card/

Man Vs Woman (during an argument)

Amazing 3D Sidewalk Art Photos

http://www.impactlab.com/2006/03/09/amazing-3d-sidewalk-art-photos/

These unbelievable photos are chalk drawings done by Julian Beever and Kurt Wenner. Both Julian and Kurt have different styles to create an amazing 3D illusion.

Scroll down slowly and stop at each new frame. Julian Beever is an English artist who’s famous for his art on the pavement of England, France, Germany, USA, Australia and Belgium.

Most of his artwork it is impossible to tell whats real from what’s an illusion. Very cool stuff.

Equal Rights for Men

http://open.salon.com/blog/jodi_kasten/2009/05/27/equal_rights_for_men

Guide to paying Bangalore Property tax 2009-10 to BBMP

http://www.mybangaloreproperty.com/blogs/bangalore_real_estate/archive/2009/07/09/guide-to-paying-bangalore-property-tax-2009-10-to-bbmp.aspx

(or)

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/1196-bbmp-property-tax-payment-guide-2009-10

Top 10 Common Dreams And Their Meanings

Everyone dreams (even if we don’t always remember them after the fact) and researchers have found that the majority of us have dreams with similar themes. For years people have tried to interpret the fleeting images that we see when we go to sleep – some interpretations are outright bizarre, while others are pretty understandable. This is a list of the interpretations that the Association for the Study of Dreams has given to the most recurring and common types of dream. Be sure to tell us whether you think it is accurate from your own experiences.

http://listverse.com/2008/10/07/top-10-common-dreams-and-their-meanings/

Wired Science News for Your Neurons To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/barefoot/

....Now, a small but growing body of research suggests that barefoot is the way adults should run, too. So, many runners have been shucking off the high-tech trainers in favor of naked feet — or minimalist footwear like Nike Free, the Newton All-Weather Trainer and the glove-like Vibram FiveFingers.....

Customizing Bloglines

I find the beta.bloglines font too large to be of any use, but I love the three pane interface. With no easy way to customize the preference here's a hack I found to do just that.

http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2008/08/10/opacity_1_import.php

Create a file called userContent.css in C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\\chrome. Copy paste the below lines into this file -

@-moz-document url-prefix(http://beta.bloglines.com/) {

/* Main body content text colour. */
div.fullviewTemplate,
div.bl_selected,
div.templateText {
color: #000 ! important;
}

/* Feed list text colour. */
.tree a:link,
.tree a:visited,
.tree li .selected a,
.tree li .selected span.bl_unread_count,
.tree .selected span.ur,
.tree .selected span.urb {
color: #000 ! important;
}

/* Reduce font size of Feed list */
.tree {
font-size: 68.75% ! important; /* 11px */
}
.tree a:link,
.tree a:visited {
font-size: 11px ! important;
}

/* Reduce indentation of feeds in folders */
.tree li li .item,
.tree li li.sub .item {
padding-left: 17px ! important;
}

/* Colour of pinned item count. */
.tree .selected span.pn,
.tree .selected span.pnb,
.tree span.pn,
.tree span.pnb {
color: #134571;
}

/* Reduce space between folders */
.tree li.folder ul.folderList {
margin-bottom: 5px ! important;
}

/* Items in Feed list */
.tree div.sub_wrap {
opacity: 0.7 ! important;
}
.tree div.unread {
opacity: 1 ! important;
}

/* Byline in main content */
div.fullviewTemplate div.templateBody h3.bl_byline,
div.triviewTemplate div.templateBody h3.bl_byline,
#bottomContent h3.bl_byline {
color: #666 ! important;
}

/* Make selected item more obvious - thicker border */
div.fullviewTemplate div.templateBody {
border-width: 2px ! important;
}
div.fullviewTemplate div.bl_selected {
border-width: 0 2px 2px ! important;
}
div.fullviewTemplate div.bl_selected h1.bl_title {
border-top-width: 2px ! important;
}
/* For every pixel you increase the above border-widths, increase this padding: */
div.fullviewTemplate div.bl_selected h2.bl_datetime {
padding-top: 11px ! important;
}

/* More space on the right of main content */
div.fullviewTemplate div.templateBody div.templateText,
div.triviewTemplate div.templateBody div.templateText,
#bottomContent div.templateText,
#mainContent ol.bl_oneColumn li.summary div.templateText {
margin-right: 1em ! important;
}

/* Make item headlines and bylines readable when headlines wrap to two lines. */
div.templateBody h1.bl_title {
line-height: 1.2em ! important;
height: auto ! important;
}


/* LINK COLOURS */

/* Headings in main content */
div.fullviewTemplate div.bl_activeselection h1.bl_title a:link,
div.fullviewTemplate div.bl_activeselection h1.bl_title a:visited {
color: #666 ! important;
}
div.fullviewTemplate div.bl_selected h1.bl_title a:link,
div.fullviewTemplate div.bl_selected h1.bl_title a:visited {
color: #000 ! important;
}

/* Hover styles for headings in main content */
div.fullviewTemplate div.bl_selected h1.bl_title a:hover,
div.fullviewTemplate div.bl_activeselection h1.bl_title a:hover,
/* Links in main content */
div.templateText a:link,
div.templateText a:visited {
color: #134571 ! important;
text-decoration: underline ! important;
}

/* Top pane in 3-pane view */
div.triviewTemplate div.bl_activeselection h1.bl_title,
div.triviewTemplate div.bl_activeselection h1.bl_title a:link,
div.triviewTemplate div.bl_activeselection h1.bl_title a:visited {
color: #134571 ! important;
text-decoration: underline ! important;
}

}

Should websites use flash intro ?

.... Maybe so. I’m a helpful guy. Really. So I’ve provided this handy flow chart for all web designers and marketing people to consult before they put a Flash intro in place. Use this and no matter what your product, no matter who your target audience, you will always reach the right decision: ....

http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/should-your-website-have-a-flash-intro/

Beer Vs Makeup

Cool Software for Kids

If the learning process is gradual, it becomes easier for them to pick up the skills and get their fundamentals right. Read on as we tell you about five different freeware programs that you will not regret letting your kids try their hands on. The system requirements of all these programs are so modest that even a decade old computer should not have problems running them. So let's get started.

http://www.techtree.com/India/Guides/Five_Useful_Software_For_Kids/551-104219-584-1.html

Bye Bye Series 60

Symbian is winding up the Symbian 60 Series & coming out with the Symbian ^ 2 series.
Nokia Blog - http://blogs.nokia.com/s60blogs/index.php/2009/06/29/thank-you/

12 Of The Most Iconic Photographs Ever Taken

http://swick.co.uk/index.php/2009/06/12-of-the-most-iconic-photographs-ever-taken/